RobertRyan wrote:
GoodGrief you try it on those US Pickups sell in tiny numbers
Look at the cost of them. They cost twice as much and probably can't be afforded by most. Maybe this is why you are against our trucks so much. You seem to have "sour grapes" syndrome and cannot have the truck therefor you must down it in order to make yourself feel better about not being able to have it.
RobertRyan wrote:
You were in the Navy, so what has that got to do with understanding how other countries regulate vehicles?
What? I this some kind of bait and switch? You stated... "
I do not believe you have been outside NA, you indicate very strongly you have not." which I stated that my Navy record proves otherwise. Where did the countries vehicle regulations come to this part of the convo?
RobertRyan wrote:
American Pickups used to sell in Australia but their numbers disappeared.FORD dropped the US Pickups. GM here drop GMC
Yes, just like most vehicles that used to be sold in Australia. They went the way of the Dodo along with Australia's vehicle manufacturing industry. As I said, there are many reasons for this. Costs, market size, import/export regulations, "global vehicle" regulations and so on.
RobertRyan wrote:
Maybe this discussion should be why US Pickups and Trucks have many problems getting markets outside NA, rather than discussing the qualities of a tiny Japanese Truck.
For many of the reasons I already stated one being displacement tax. Many EU countries and some Asian countries had this tax where you would have to pay a higher tax for a bigger engine especially 1.6L and above. This led to people wanting smaller displacement engines so they didn't have to pay the extra taxes which then led to smaller and smaller vehicles. Since Australia's truck market was not big enough, they got the hand me downs from the EU and Asian markets(aka "global trucks") and have to put up with trucks that fit their regulation and displacement tax.
After some time, roadways and urban areas began to be built for the design of the smaller vehicles as people got accustomed to them and they became apart of the culture. This is why many EU made vehicles today are still small even though the displacement tax went away in the early 2000's. Our big trucks are just not designed for their roadways and it is more of a pain to maneuver them in urban areas of other countries.
North American roadways and urban areas on the other hand are made for our big trucks, cars, and SUV's. They have been apart of out culture for so long that we have built our cities for there size. We also don't really care if no one else wants them. They were built for us, not them. Although, there is still a market for them in Australia so there some well to do people over there that do want them.
