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Originally Posted by Hersbird
You are wrong on all 4 counts. Maybe some of this stuff was legal before but the laws were substantially changed in the last decade. It's not the 25% tax keeping stuff out, there are specific new rules on the little trucks. They are cracking down on the UTVs. In no way are they anything like a car under current rules. Many places they are not street legal at all.
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UTV Road Licensing in some states was only ratified within the last decade.
It will vary from state to state.
Also... who's cracking down on ATVs?
Consumer Federation Releases Report on ATVs on Roads: States Are Increasingly Allowing ATVs on Roads Despite Warnings from Industry, Advocates and Federal Government
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for several years an increasing number of states have passed laws allowing ATVs on public roads
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And that includes Montana:
MONTANA OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE (OHV) LAWS
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The 25% tax effectively prevents manufacturers from importing foreign-made pick-up trucks, while they can import cars however they see fit. (the Ford Transit Connect has to be imported with extra jump seats, which are then removed before sale, to avoid the tax... can't be done with a cheap bare-bones pick-up without jacking up the price.)
What happens then is that all pick-ups need to be American made. Not a problem, Nissan and Toyota build their mid-sized trucks in America.
But if you want
small pick-ups, you
have to import them, because they won't sell in America in the numbers needed to justify tooling up an entire factory just for the American market. (And they won't make trucks meant for Asia or South America in the USA, either... because they won't make the price point needed to compete there.)
So, yes. The 25% tax
is part of what's keeping those foreign trucks out. If it was just diesel emission or safety laws keeping them out, that's not a big deal. These trucks are sold in Europe and have to comply with NCAP and Euro emissions regulations. The trucks would still get more expensive due to urea injection, but manufacturers might be able to absorb the expense... if only they didn't have to absorb that and still sell the trucks for 25% more.
Strange that you're so incensed by safety laws keeping cars out of the USA but won't accept the idea that there are other regulatory and tarriff barriers keeping cars out.
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Hell, it isn't just the fact that you have safety and emission laws. Everyone has those nowadays. It's the fact that the US refuses to align its laws with everyone else's.
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And even when you bring down those barriers... in the end, the American consumer will not buy cheap trucks in big enough numbers to justify them being marketed there. Sadly.