SUV ownership is measured through several lenses rather than one universal count: in-use fleets, sales, production, travel trips, registered vehicles and crash outcomes. The statistics below distinguish those populations, periods and definitions across global and U.S. evidence.
Key SUV Ownership Statistics
These are the most broadly useful figures in the available SUV ownership data:
- In 2023, SUVs represented 48% of global car sales worldwide.
- In 2023, more than 360 million SUVs were estimated to be on roads worldwide.
- In 2023, SUVs generated about 1 billion tonnes of combustion-related CO2 worldwide.
- In 2023, SUVs contributed more than 20% of the growth in global energy-related CO2 emissions.
- In 2023, advanced economies sold around 20 million SUVs.
- In model year 2024, truck SUVs made up half of new U.S. vehicle production.
- In model year 2024, the average new U.S. vehicle achieved 27.2 mpg in real-world fuel economy.
- In 2022, SUVs accounted for 30% of U.S. passenger travel trips.
- In 2022, SUV/crossover trips averaged 1.67 people per vehicle trip on a mileage-weighted basis in the United States.
- From model year 2022 to 2023, car-SUV average fuel economy increased by 7.2 mpg in the United States.
- In model year 2023, battery-electric vehicles made up 36% of U.S. car-SUV production.
- In 2024, SUV occupants accounted for 6,648 U.S. occupant deaths in crashes.
- In 2024, frontal impacts accounted for 60% of U.S. SUV occupant deaths.
- In 2024, the all-crash driver death rate was 27 per million registered vehicles for 1–3-year-old U.S. SUVs.
- In 2023, only 5% of SUVs on roads worldwide were electric.
- In 2023, more than 55% of new electric-car registrations worldwide were SUVs.
- In 2023, SUVs made up 60% of the 500 electric-car models available worldwide.
Contents
- Key SUV Ownership Statistics
- Global SUV Ownership Statistics: Fleet Size and Market Share
- U.S. SUV Ownership and Production Trends
- SUV Use in Household Travel
- SUV Fuel Economy, Emissions and Vehicle Attributes
- SUV Safety Statistics and Fatality Rates
- SUV Electrification and Powertrain Trends
Global SUV Ownership Statistics: Fleet Size and Market Share
The International Energy Agency’s 2023 global estimates show how large the SUV category has become, while also clarifying that an in-use fleet is not the same as household ownership.
- SUVs represented 48% of global car sales in 2023, and more than 360 million SUVs were estimated to be on roads worldwide. These are IEA estimates using its SUV definition, with the fleet figure describing vehicles in use rather than registered household ownership. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
- Advanced economies sold around 20 million SUVs in 2023, and SUVs exceeded 50% of car sales in those economies for the first time. Both figures are rounded IEA market estimates rather than household ownership counts. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
- SUVs weighed 200–300 kilograms more than an average medium-sized car and occupied nearly 0.3 square metres more space in the IEA’s typical comparison. These are representative comparisons, not universal model-to-model results. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
The global scale also has measurable environmental outcomes. SUV emissions and oil use are estimates tied to the worldwide fleet, not direct measurements of individual owners’ fuel bills.
- SUVs generated about 1 billion tonnes of combustion-related CO2 in 2023, and their combustion-related emissions increased by about 100 million tonnes from 2022 to 2023. The estimate excludes embodied emissions. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
- SUVs accounted for more than 20% of the growth in global energy-related CO2 emissions in 2023, which is a contribution to annual growth rather than a share of total emissions. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
U.S. SUV Ownership and Production Trends
U.S. production data uses EPA and NHTSA regulatory categories. Truck SUVs are part of the regulatory truck category, so production share should not be read as the share of households that own SUVs.
| U.S. measure | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Truck SUVs as a share of new-vehicle production | Model year 2024 | 50% |
| Cars as a share of new vehicles | Model year 2024 | 34% |
| Trucks as a share of new vehicles | Model year 2024 | 66% |
| Average new-vehicle real-world fuel economy | Model year 2024 | 27.2 mpg |
The truck-SUV figure is from EPA’s model-year 2024 analysis, while the car and truck figures use the NHTSA regulatory categories. EPA, “Highlights of the Automotive Trends Report”
EPA’s longer trend also shows gradual fleetwide improvement, although the figures are for new vehicles overall rather than SUV ownership alone.
- Average new-vehicle fuel economy rose by 0.1 mpg from model year 2023 to 2024 and improved in 16 of the last 20 model years reported by EPA. EPA, “Highlights of the Automotive Trends Report”
- Average new-vehicle fuel economy was 41% higher in model year 2024 than in model year 2004. Without battery-electric and plug-in-hybrid vehicles, the model-year-2024 average would have been 1.7 mpg lower; that is an EPA counterfactual, not observed ownership behavior. EPA, “Highlights of the Automotive Trends Report”
- In model year 2023, Tesla had the highest car-SUV production share among manufacturers at 55%, while Mazda had the highest truck-SUV production share at 89%. The figures describe manufacturer production distributions, not sales or ownership. EPA, “2024 EPA Automotive Trends Report: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Fuel Economy, and Technology since 1975”
- Overall U.S. truck production was about 62% in model year 2023. The regulatory truck class includes truck SUVs and pickups. EPA, “2024 EPA Automotive Trends Report: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Fuel Economy, and Technology since 1975”
SUV Use in Household Travel
Travel surveys describe how vehicles are used for trips, not how many households own an SUV. The 2022 National Household Travel Survey data provide a useful view of everyday travel participation in the United States.
| Passenger travel mode | Share of U.S. passenger travel trips, 2022 |
|---|---|
| SUVs | 30% |
| Cars | 40% |
| Pickup trucks | 10% |
| Vans | 6% |
| Walking | 7% |
SUVs accounted for 30% of passenger travel trips in 2022, compared with 40% for cars, 10% for pickup trucks and 6% for vans. Walking represented 7% as contextual travel-mode information, not SUV ownership. FHWA, “Our Nation’s Highways 2026: Travel”
Almost 161 billion trips were made by privately operated vehicles in the United States in 2022. That total covers all privately operated vehicles, so it should not be treated as an SUV-trip total. FHWA, “Our Nation’s Highways 2026: Travel”
The NHTS occupancy factors add a second dimension: who is in the vehicle during travel.
- SUV/crossover trips had a mileage-weighted average occupancy of 1.67 people in 2022, compared with 1.52 people for all vehicle types. The SUV/crossover category is broader than SUV ownership. FHWA, “2022 NHTS Weighted Vehicle Occupancy Factors”
- Van trips had the highest listed mileage-weighted occupancy at 2.06 people in 2022, while car trips averaged 1.40 people. These are comparison categories from the same survey table, not ownership rates. FHWA, “2022 NHTS Weighted Vehicle Occupancy Factors”
SUV Fuel Economy, Emissions and Vehicle Attributes
The EPA’s vehicle-type data show substantial change in car-SUV averages between model years 2022 and 2023, partly affected by the battery-electric mix. These are new-vehicle averages, not fuel economy for the entire registered SUV fleet.
| Car-SUV measure | Change or result | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Average fuel economy | +7.2 mpg | MY2022–MY2023 |
| Average real-world CO2 emissions | −60 g/mile, or −24% | MY2022–MY2023 |
| Battery-electric share of car-SUV production | 36% | MY2023 |
| Projected average CO2 change | Unchanged | MY2023–preliminary MY2024 |
Car-SUV average fuel economy increased by 7.2 mpg from model year 2022 to 2023, while average real-world CO2 emissions fell 60 grams per mile, or 24%. Battery-electric vehicles were 36% of model-year-2023 car-SUV production, and car SUVs had the lowest average new-vehicle CO2 emissions among EPA vehicle types that year. EPA, “2024 EPA Automotive Trends Report: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Fuel Economy, and Technology since 1975”
EPA projected average new-vehicle CO2 emissions for car SUVs to remain unchanged from model year 2023 to preliminary model year 2024. That is a preliminary forecast, not a final observed result. EPA, “2024 EPA Automotive Trends Report: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Fuel Economy, and Technology since 1975”
Globally, the IEA’s typical comparison found that SUVs emit roughly 20% more CO2 than an average medium-sized car. Global SUV oil consumption rose by more than 600,000 barrels per day across 2022 and 2023, representing more than one-quarter of annual global oil-demand growth over that interval. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
SUV Safety Statistics and Fatality Rates
IIHS fatality statistics measure crash outcomes, not the number of SUV owners. The 2024 U.S. figures are based on FARS crash deaths, and the rates for newer vehicles are expressed per million registered vehicle-years.
- SUV occupants accounted for 6,648 U.S. occupant deaths in 2024: 4,875 drivers and 1,760 passengers. The reported shares were 73% drivers and 26% passengers, with percentages potentially not summing to 100% because of rounding or unknowns. IIHS, “Fatality Facts 2024: Passenger vehicle occupants”
- SUV occupant deaths increased nearly 15-fold from 1975 to 2024. The comparison reflects vehicle-population growth and crash risk, and SUVs were rare in 1975. IIHS, “Fatality Facts 2024: Passenger vehicle occupants”
- In 2024, 44% of SUV occupant deaths occurred in single-vehicle crashes and 56% in multiple-vehicle crashes. Frontal impacts accounted for 60%, side impacts for 19%, and other impacts, mostly rollovers, for 15%. Single-vehicle rollover crashes alone accounted for 22%. IIHS, “Fatality Facts 2024: Passenger vehicle occupants”
For 1–3-year-old registered vehicles in 2024, the all-crash SUV driver death rate was 27 per million registered vehicles. The corresponding multiple-vehicle rate was 17, and the single-vehicle rate was 10 per million vehicle-years; these rates reflect vehicle design, use patterns and driver demographics and are not individual-driver probabilities. IIHS, “Fatality Facts 2024: Passenger vehicle occupants”
| SUV size | All-crash driver deaths per million registered vehicles, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Small SUVs | 34 |
| Midsize SUVs | 22 |
| Large SUVs | 12 |
The size comparison applies to 1–3-year-old vehicles and IIHS classifications. IIHS, “Fatality Facts 2024: Passenger vehicle occupants”
SUV Electrification and Powertrain Trends
Electrification is advancing unevenly: SUVs dominate several electric-car market measures, but electric vehicles still represent a small share of the total in-use SUV fleet.
- Only 5% of SUVs on roads worldwide were electric in 2023, according to the IEA’s estimate of the in-use SUV fleet. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
- More than 55% of new electric-car registrations worldwide were SUVs in 2023, while about 45% of the global electric-car fleet were SUVs. In advanced economies, SUVs represented 55% of the electric-car fleet. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
- SUVs made up 60% of the 500 electric-car models available worldwide in 2023. This is a model-availability measure, not a sales or ownership share. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
- Around 30 million internal-combustion SUVs were added to the global fleet in 2023. The figure covers ICE SUVs only and is an IEA fleet estimate. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
- SUVs, pickups and large cars accounted for 65% of worldwide ICE car sales in 2023 and exceeded 80% of U.S. ICE car sales. Those are combined large-vehicle categories, not SUV-only shares. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
- Sales-weighted electricity consumption of electric SUVs was 20% higher than that of other electric cars in 2022. This is a global sales-weighted comparison. IEA, “SUVs are setting new sales records each year – and so are their emissions”
The evidence therefore describes a category with high electric-model and new-registration representation alongside a much smaller electric share of the total SUV fleet. The IEA’s global SUV, large-car, ICE and electric categories should not be collapsed into one ownership denominator.