That is not really a reply to what I wrote, though. I do get the appeal of fast and powerful cars subjectively, but objectively it should be a means to an end and simply tick all the "useful" boxes when making a purchase decision. Because the manufacturers want to earn as much money as they can, they cater to what people "want" because the price tags and margins are bigger. What people want in the US nowadays seems to be huge SUVs, huge pickup trucks (possibly lifted with 24 inch wheels) or other large vehicles that are preferably equipped with supercharged V8 engines and have all the bells and whistles you can fit into a vehicle that weighs 2 tons or more.

Because people are buying cars that suit "their taste" or their imagined "needs", we're looking at an arms race on the roads and most of the efficiency gains of the past decades are eaten by the taste for large, powerful and very comfortable passenger vehicles. People may want a fully kitted Escalade, while a Smart car would do the trick for the grocery run or daily commute.