I assume they are popular because the modern world seems to contain approximately zero station wagons.
I mean, think about how many modern families need to use their cars. They need space for four humans, maybe more. They need space for gear for these humans -- if any of them play, say, hockey or lacrosse, that can be very large gear. A compact car, even a four-door, is probably not big enough for some of their frequent uses. Once upon a time they would have solved the problem with station wagons, but no one sells those any more, so they buy SUVs.
(Why are so many SUVs built? Aside from the fact that people buy them, it has to do with government fuel efficiency standards. Companies are required to have their fleet averages meet certain targets, but nothing is said about specific vehicles. Station wagons count as cars and, unsurprisingly, are likely to increase the emissions average of the car fleet. SUVs, however, are built on truck skeletons, and thus count as part of the truck fleet; their spectacularly poor fuel efficiency therefore does not impact the car fleet average.)
Oh, and, well, people just like having really big cars that let them tower over the other puny mortals on the road for the same reason they like huge showy houses and penis extensions, I guess.
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I mean, think about how many modern families need to use their cars. They need space for four humans, maybe more. They need space for gear for these humans -- if any of them play, say, hockey or lacrosse, that can be very large gear. A compact car, even a four-door, is probably not big enough for some of their frequent uses. Once upon a time they would have solved the problem with station wagons, but no one sells those any more, so they buy SUVs.
(Why are so many SUVs built? Aside from the fact that people buy them, it has to do with government fuel efficiency standards. Companies are required to have their fleet averages meet certain targets, but nothing is said about specific vehicles. Station wagons count as cars and, unsurprisingly, are likely to increase the emissions average of the car fleet. SUVs, however, are built on truck skeletons, and thus count as part of the truck fleet; their spectacularly poor fuel efficiency therefore does not impact the car fleet average.)
Oh, and, well, people just like having really big cars that let them tower over the other puny mortals on the road for the same reason they like huge showy houses and penis extensions, I guess.