The length is bad but the 0.5cm extra width per year strikes me as much worse. There's a lot of room for longer vehicles than the average cars of yesteryear - vans and light trucks have always been around. But those vehicles tended to only be slightly wider, if at all, in order to fit into lanes on the road, parking spaces, through gateways and so on. Half a centimetre wider per year is insane.

Not sure about the accuracy of this, my car is still the same length as it was ten years ago.

This just illustrates the importance of hiring a professional to trim back the cars periodically. You could do it yourself, but the heavy industrial equipment necessary for routine gardening like this is just too bulky and expensive for the average person to be able to use.

Cars do not grow. Don't listen to this guy. My car is the same size as when I bought it.

Some of this is safety equipment and more recently batteries and hybrid equipment, which takes up space. Some of this is simply design and aesthetics.

What are they feeding them?!

Does this mean cars have plate tectonics?

If they're going to make these cars that grow longer every year, are they also going to build garages that get longer too? In my day, cars stayed the same length for the whole time you owned them. I suppose it's good for parents that have growing teenagers and need more leg room in the back.

A lot is extra safety features. It would be illegal to sell the original mini today.

Consumer appeal for bigger vehicles tracks with historical weight gain.

It's called "American creep".

There are a lot more car brands in Europe than most regions so generalizations are a bit less useful. I wonder who the outliers would be?