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Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

economist.com

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Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#251

Post by pvarangot »

birdyrooster wrote: post #168
deelowe wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That rule ain't changing unfortunately. Regulatory capture is STRONG with automotive and the US sees it as a matter of national security (car makers would be pivoted to other ares in times of war).

So what you are saying is Tesla is building China’s future factories for armor.

Yeah the US surprisingly sees things as a national security issue only when they don't interfere with corporations profiting, and fuck it if they make stuff more expensive for the dying middle class.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#252

Post by mullingitover »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #225
nyx wrote: post #29

The 25-year import rule here, which bans Americans from importing vehicles from other countries unless they're 25+ years old, is just awful for those of us who would be interested in driving small, efficient foreign cars. It would be great to live completely car-free, but absent major changes to how we plan our cities, it's just a sad reality that cars are a necessary ingredient to life in the vast majority of Americ…

Also, import tax on trucks is 20% (if I recall correctly). Maybe over double the tax on cars. Not sure why trucks get special protection(ism).

Chickens, and spite. That's the official story.[1]

Unofficially, it's indirectly how we got the Civil Rights Act passed as a quid pro quo:

> In retrospect, audio tapes from the Johnson White House, revealed a quid pro quo unrelated to chicken. In January 1964, President Johnson attempted to convince United Auto Workers' president Walter Reuther not to initiate a strike just before the 1964 election and to support the president's civil-rights platform. Reuther, in turn, wanted Johnson to respond to Volkswagen's increased shipments to the United States.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#253

Post by pvarangot »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #225
nyx wrote: post #29

The 25-year import rule here, which bans Americans from importing vehicles from other countries unless they're 25+ years old, is just awful for those of us who would be interested in driving small, efficient foreign cars. It would be great to live completely car-free, but absent major changes to how we plan our cities, it's just a sad reality that cars are a necessary ingredient to life in the vast majority of Americ…

Also, import tax on trucks is 20% (if I recall correctly). Maybe over double the tax on cars. Not sure why trucks get special protection(ism).

Because they are "tools"

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#254

Post by skim_milk »

I own a Honda Acty van and I have met a ton of people with other kei trucks here in Nebraska and outside of the state. It seems like every other person with an acreage owns a kei truck nowadays, they're cheaper and more reliable than an ATV plus you can drive on roads. I've met some people here in Nebraska that make bank importing and selling kei trucks to farmers.

Like the other commenters have said, you have to check your state's laws to see if they can be registered, but I've met people in states that don't allow kei trucks and are just used as ATVs, and it's not like you're going to be fined for driving on back roads between your properties anyway. In Nebraska they're banned on highways, but it's not like you're going to take your 1800lb car which doesn't have airbags or any crash structure that only drives up to 65mph with a tailwind on any highways anyway.

If you're looking to buy one, check state laws and I recommend just eating the ~$2,000 markup to get one already with tags from a car dealer that sells these. Dealerships that sell RHD cars to people who drive for the Post Office will have these in stock and will be the easiest to deal with. It's not worth the risks and effort to do all the paperwork yourself IMO. If the car previously passed inspection in Japan, it's basically guaranteed to be fine because inspection in Japan is very good, they check for rust etc. Parts can either be cross-referenced to other cars (e.g. Honda Civic) or they will be expensive but available. You'll have to do all your own work, but they're extremely simple cars.

I use mine as a van camper, pretty cheap on gas if driven slowly.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#255

Post by llanowarelves »

asveikau wrote: post #176
__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How easily could they retool for an event like that? I think I've just hatched a conspiracy theory for why all our vehicles are absurdly sized...

I thought the standard conspiracy theory was that they started making them larger to avoid environmental regulation (which is pretty ironic). Here's the first google result for "large cars regulation loophole", looks like an interesting read: https://www.wired.com/story/the-us-wants-to-close-the-suv-lo... Edit: prior HN discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35609521

Thanks for the links. Why is the phrase "conspiracy theory" used for that though?

Sounds like it's a value-judgement free decision from manufacturers to follow the incentives from the policy as we'd predict:

way cheaper and less work to make those (now pretty popular) vehicles bigger than R&D and re-tool factories to make smaller and/or more efficient. It would need to be made more efficient to get smaller otherwise you lose power. Truck owners are comparing power (even if they dont use it, and it's sometimes just brand bragging rights) so that sounds like a worse option if you're making and selling them.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#256

Post by anfilt »

inferiorhuman wrote: post #147
nyx wrote: post #29

The 25-year import rule here, which bans Americans from importing vehicles from other countries unless they're 25+ years old, is just awful for those of us who would be interested in driving small, efficient foreign cars. It would be great to live completely car-free, but absent major changes to how we plan our cities, it's just a sad reality that cars are a necessary ingredient to life in the vast majority of Americ…

The 25-year import rule here, which bans Americans from importing vehicles from other countries unless they're 25+ years old That's not what the rule is. That's the end result because nobody wants to spend money to get a foreign market car to meet the relevant safety and emissions standards.

Technically anyone can pay the money to do this certification, but it's not cheap and also would require that you crash multiple cars for crash testing. Also if it fails in some aspect it's not like then you can ask the manufacture to change things.

Also these kei class vehicles would not do well on some of the highway speed collision tests.

Moreover these Kei Trucks still have to deal with the 25% chicken tax =(.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#257

Post by [deleted] »

nostromo wrote: post #210
deelowe wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That rule ain't changing unfortunately. Regulatory capture is STRONG with automotive and the US sees it as a matter of national security (car makers would be pivoted to other ares in times of war).

This isn't necessarily regulatory capture or protectionism. Half of all cars sold in the US are imported. Toyota, a Japanese company, is the most popular brand of car sold in the US. So, yes, you can import cars all you want, they just need to follow US safety and emissions standards. These cars do not meet those requirements, so you can't import them. If you didn't block them as imports, we'd have lots of people jus…

[deleted]

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#258

Post by afavour »

tonyarkles wrote: post #239
JKCalhoun wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, what the hell happened? And I miss my manual (1980's?) Chevy Luv.

From what I understand, the two main drivers are: - safety standards (eg crumple zones) - emissions and efficiency regulations that vary with the footprint of the vehicle. Vehicles with larger footprint (= width x length) are allowed to have lower fuel economy numbers, which perversely means that one solution to a truck having poor fuel economy is to make it… bigger.

Another driver is everyone getting pickup trucks and the resulting market distortion. Farmer that needs to haul equipment? You need a pickup truck. Family of four that needs to do the school run? For some reason you’ll also be getting a pickup truck. And there are a lot more of the latter to market to.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#259

Post by makeitdouble »

nostromo wrote: post #210
deelowe wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That rule ain't changing unfortunately. Regulatory capture is STRONG with automotive and the US sees it as a matter of national security (car makers would be pivoted to other ares in times of war).

This isn't necessarily regulatory capture or protectionism. Half of all cars sold in the US are imported. Toyota, a Japanese company, is the most popular brand of car sold in the US. So, yes, you can import cars all you want, they just need to follow US safety and emissions standards. These cars do not meet those requirements, so you can't import them. If you didn't block them as imports, we'd have lots of people jus…

> Half of all cars sold in the US are imported. Toyota, a Japanese company, is the most popular brand of car sold in the US.

I misread this bit, so for clarification for people like me:

Toyota's numbers are 1,144,722 vehicles produced in the US, vs a total of 2,333,262 vehicles sold.

So while Toyota is a Japanese company, half is locally produced, and the rest is imported in alignment with the US standards (that they of course have no issue to understand and meet)

https://www.toyota.com/usa/operations/map

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#260

Post by ioseph »

asciimov wrote: post #128
LinuxBender wrote: post #4

I've seriously contemplated getting one of these. Street legal, fuel efficient, simple, but when I started researching them I started to see a pattern. It's hard to find anyone in rural areas willing to work on them and not all mini trucks are equal. Some are not shipped correctly and have frame rust issues. There are YouTuber's that cover some of the models and the gotchas and things to inspect. I would never buy on…

I seriously miss compact trucks, like the Mazda B-series, Ford Courier, Ford Ranger (before it became a mid-size in 2019). These kinds of trucks might more to your liking. Sure they aren't as small and cute as the imports, but your local auto store can still get you parts for them. They are fun to drive, fairly fuel efficient, and are capable of hauling material from the home center. I learned to drive stick, and how…

It's so bizarre to me as an Australian that these are considered "compact". Here they are the standard utility vehicle for every tradesman (although the Toyota Hilux is perhaps most popular). Coming from my hatchback I find these long and awkward to park / merge.

Sadly Dodge Rams and other stupid big US cars are starting to rear their ugly faces, although they look hilariously out of place on our roads. A popular term for them is "emotional support vehicle"

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