Seems like the market isn't working.
The US spent $2T on the gulf wars to secure this, and globally spend at least $7T a year on fossil subsidies. This needs to end immediately.
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2023/08/22/IMF...
You want to get rid of bad regulations, obviously. You really don’t want to get rid of all regulations.
I don't know if this is an economic concept that exists, but I'd call it an "accidental cartel." Corporations noticed that serving a particular customer base was less profitable than giving customers fewer, more expensive choices, so the market participants aligned themselves around this strategy until there are no cheaper, lower margin options left. In theory, that leaves an open market for a competitor, but to occupy that niche would be to spend resources on attracting a lower-quality customer (one who is less able to pay more, less interested in paying more, less susceptible to marketing, etc).
1. Lawmakers put an import tax on trucks, and (perhaps not entirely intentionally) made emission standards for SUVs lower than those for cars.
2. US automakers were getting their ass kicked by foreign imports that were much better made in the car segment, but not in the SUV and truck segment.
3. US automakers decided to heavily promote trucks and SUVs, the segments they were most competitive in. You know, pay to make sure all the characters in that TV show are driving SUVs and whatnot.
4. Lawmakers decided to maintain the state of affairs from 1 because they like US automakers.
That's widely known, and for a very long time already.