RobertRyan wrote:
These may come to the U.S., AWD, with a 2litre Diesel
VW would have to take the parent van through the DOT and EPA certifications in order for someone to import the conversions. VW did so for the T4, but stopped importing when the passenger van failed to gain market share against our large minivans, VW pulled the Transporter out of the U.S. in 2004 and started importing their own minivan instead.
It was hard to make the commercial T4 van competitive with the "chicken tax" (a 25% tariff retaliating against an EU tariff). There have been discussions lately about ending this particular tariff, but a similar effort in 2009 got nowhere (we can't discuss the politics of that here).
Current "import" trucks being sold in the U.S. are either being assembled in North America, or they are being imported as passenger vehicles and converted to trucks on arrival (e.g. take the seats out).
It would be nice to have the Transporter here again. I would have bought one instead of my Ford E-series.
