While I don't think it would prevent our troops from having foreign-produced trucks in theater, we can't affordably procure such trucks thanks to the Chicken Tax. I would also guess that giving a DoD contract to Toyota for a truck that may not be registrable in the US would also face institutional resistance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax
Toyota has factories in the US where they produce pickups. They could build the Hilux here if they thought it would do well in the market.
Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)
131–135 of 135 posts
Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
Americans' appetite for small cars seems to be linked pretty closely to the inflation-adjusted price of gasoline. Automakers always want to push more premium vehicles, because they make their margins selling to people with more money to buy more features, more space, more performance. The low end of the market is lower margin and you have to make up for it with volume. When we hit another recession, we'll see smaller…
Fuel coast only go up and never down. The market and politicians make it seem like it will go down but in the end it still rises slowly. This is something that most people cannot understand nor want to. I drive a car and will never buy a truck or SUV because it allows me spend the least amount on fuel. It also allows me to see in front of the vehicle while making it easier to maneuver in tight spots. American car cul…
If you're looking only at nominal figures, then what you're seeing is the inflation of the dollar, not the change in how much gasoline costs.
Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
The military has an incentive to ensure there are plenty of Americans who know how to design and manufacture things. A truck and a tank have a lot in common - if war breaks out we want the ability to take people of of trucks and get them making things the military needs. This is the same reason the Navy has for building ships in the US even though they can be done other places cheaper.
> This is the same reason the Navy has for building ships in the US even though they can be done other places cheaper. You'd think the biggest war machine on the planet would benefit from economies of scale by now. If they want to stay sharp they could build commercial ships between the ocassional war ship.
Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)
#134Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)
#135I wish it was easy and simple to buy the Hilux in America. Many amazing foreign vehicles have been banned or heavily taxed by the Federal Government to prevent competition.
America will become like East Germany and the Trabant. And thanks to Trump's antics Detroit is losing the Mexican and Canadian markets...