Quote:
Originally Posted by gregsfc
very tough regulatory standards
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It's less that they're tougher (though California's stance on diesels is almost insanely strict) than that the US doesn't play the same ball as everyone else. EuroNCAP has now spread to Australia, Asia (testing center in Malaysia), China, India and Latin America. Along with that goes UNECE regulations.
The United States and Japan still go their own way, in most regards, which makes both tough nuts to crack. But both are large enough to be self-sustaining.
For now. Maybe in the future, automakers will embrace harmonization as a way to consolidate operations in terms of design and engineering... but as long as they can rely upon a strong home market to keep them in the green, I doubt it will happen.