FCA Proposes a Merger with Renault

wilber1 wrote:

Toyota and Nissan and Honda build those vehicles in the US to get around the tariffs, which drove the rest away. It's easy to be competitive if you have a 25% advantage right from the get go.

Are we really going to go through this again? Did you quote me because you wanted to go another round?

Again, the chicken tax did not "protect" the big three from competition of "light trucks" because there have been several vehicle brands that have come and gone while the chicken tax has been in place. Toyota built trucks in Japan or other countries for years with the Chicken tax in place. So did Nissan with the D21. The reason why these brands are still here is because they gave US consumers what they wanted like 4wd, extended cabs, and longer beds while the others just built mostly small 2wd compact short bed trucks that hardly anybody wanted at the time.

So it wasn't the chicken tax that killed the other brand's trucks, it was the fact that they didn't build a product most US buyers wanted. Makes like Toyota and Nissan were able to easily compete even with the Chicken tax because they built trucks people wanted. Case in point is the fact that costlier trim levels and options like 4wd that cost well over 25% of the base vehicles easily outsell the base trims today. Why? Because it has the options US buyers want and most are willing to pay to get what they want.