I disagree that all SUVs are always safer. It was only recently historically (70s-90s) that the safest cars on the roads were estates made by Volvo (and if they or Polestar made an all electric estate I’d be very interested
) and they were considered safer than the contemporary LandRovers of the time.....so I think estates can be made just as safe really.
I also echo the point that centre of gravity is important in a car. A lower centre of gravity is always sought after by designers because it makes the car safer to drive at all speeds (eg less wobbling and rolling than an equivalent SUV esp around corners) and in an accident much less likely to roll as well. I’ve driven plenty of SUVs and estates are almost always better drives (again, I’m looking at equivalents here - an all electric SUV will be taller and therefore have a higher CoG than it’s all electric estate stablemate - you can’t beat physics).
Aerodynamics and weight are important too. Again, look at equivalent estates and their SUV counterparts and the estates will almost always be more aerodynamic as well as lighter - 2 things you would definitely want to optimise in an electric car whose batteries require those things to be optimised for best range.
Internal space also can often be better in estates. Many SUVs look impressive from the outside but aren’t as roomy on the inside - unless you go mahoosive (GLS/Q7 ish) and I don’t want to be driving a boat sized barge around really.
So that’s multiple reasons I think estates are safer and more preferable to me than a big SUV.
I get that demand is lower, so if I have no choice something like a Tesla X would be OK, but if they offered a Tesla S estate (following this example) that would be more appealing.
