quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:

It sounds like this could open up the market to a lot more than just the Hilux. Europe and Asia have all sorts of small, efficient gas and diesel vehicles that have never been sold in the US due to environmental and safety regulations. They're not big and they're not comfortable, but they're way more economical than the luxobarges that even our domestic "compacts" have turned into. It'll be interesting to see what this change does to the automotive market as a whole. Cars have gotten way too damn expensive, and this move could be a brilliant way to shake that up.

The small cars would not pass our crash safety regs and that would take Congress. Europe and Japan have small, tight, narrow streets, where it’s safe there, but not the American highways. The Hilux, sure, but the Kei cars will not come here.

depending on the area, Kei trucks are allowed here,

wondering if the regulation change will allow more imported used vehicles,

there are several JDM importers here, (one just down the road about 20 minutes) but everything has to be 25yrs old or older,

would be nice if the new regs allow newer used imports

That's a pretty bold, matter of fact statement. Especially since Kei trucks are fully legal to drive on highways here in Montana.

Also, out of curiosity, how would they be less safe than a motorcycle?

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

The small cars would not pass our crash safety regs and that would take Congress. Europe and Japan have small, tight, narrow streets, where it’s safe there, but not the American highways. The Hilux, sure, but the Kei cars will not come here.

Have you noticed how much of the US is urban now? This isn’t Hopalong Cassidy anymore, 80%+ of the US population is in an urban area.

A kei style car is fantastic for your bumper to bumper LA, NYC, Boston, DC, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Richmond, Philadelphia, St. Louis, etc commute.

Yeah, it’s not your car to drive across the country, we get that.

We had small cars and nobody bought them and they were cancelled for the USDM. The Honda Fit comes to mind as well as the Mitsubishi Mirage. The Smart car is no longer sold in the US either. So sales and your opinion of Kei doesn’t match. This could lead to small trucks however.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
We had small cars and nobody bought them and they were cancelled for the USDM. The Honda Fit comes to mind as well as the Mitsubishi Mirage. The Smart car is no longer sold in the US either. So sales and your opinion of Kei doesn’t match. This could lead to small trucks however.

There is nothing so hard as a mind that cannot change…

The Honda Fit is a GREAT example. Honda sold 50k+ of them for 11 years, and 30k plus in their last three years, after it was announced that US sales were ending, and for a model that at that point hadn’t been updated in 7 years. 775k sold from introduction to end of sale, 2006-2021.

Now that crossovers are classified as passenger vehicles, there’s even more room for a Fit like vehicle.

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:
I know it’s never been sold here, but the truck is called the “Hilux…

Actually that’s not true. Toyota sold the Hilux in the US in the late 60’s and 70’s. My graduate advisor had a 1 ton long bed Hilux. Very simple and a great little truck.

IM IN!

Give me the 4WD and 4 door!

I banged around in them while I was in the Middle East and Central / South America.
Awesome trucks!

quote:

Originally posted by Jupiter:
I would love to see this thing with the legendary 22r engine.

You're talking my language. That's what my '85 4x4 had. I did all the work on that truck myself for the 18 years I had it.

Exactly, like working on a go cart except easier. I hope they eventually get here, and inspire other makers to do the same thing. If they don't I hope they freeze to death if they can't find enough customers with deep pockets to buy expensive cars with extremely small motors, stupid internal designs and tradeoffs, and a metric shit ton of plastics under the hood in addition to everwhere else.

Those Japanese mini trucks are fantastic. More specifically, the beds. Drop down sides, dump beds, I think I saw a few with lift gates even. A lift gate would make getting our pressure washer in the truck a one person operation.

quote:

Originally posted by ThunTiger:
Toyota would also be cutting in to the side-by-side market in my opinion. There are plenty of side-by-side that are over 20 grand. It’s obviously not a direct comparison but I think there would be some overlap there in the customer base.

Agreed. I'm about the last guy around me to not have a side-by-side on the farm. I see this as a competitor to that with the added benefit of being able to do about everything except haul round bales or pull stock trailers. That saves a LOT of wear and tear off of the 3/4 and 1-tons.

Here’s another article on the Hilux proposal. As I read it, there’s an interesting twist on the semantics.

From the article:

quote:

"The manufacturers — Toyota, for instance — could build them here. There’s nothing illegal about that. The illegality occurs when a manufacturer of a non-compliant vehicle — i.e., a vehicle that does not meet every single Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) and federal “emissions” requirement (which these days means chiefly the “emissions” of carbon dioxide, which has nothing to do with pollution) — offers it for sale. Specifically, offers it for sale for use on what are styled “public” — meaning government-owned — roads.”

{snip}

“I have authorized the secretary (of transportation) to immediately approve the production of these cars,” Trump said on Wednesday.

(Italics added.)

It looks to me like we could perhaps build the trucks in the US, but wouldn’t be allowed to sell them here for use on public roads without significantly more regulatory changes.

Building them here would be a good thing for American manufacturing (and in turn, the American economy), but it’d be a heck of a dirty tease to prospective buyers.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:
I know it’s never been sold here, but the truck is called the “Hilux…

Actually that’s not true. Toyota sold the Hilux in the US in the late 60’s and 70’s. My graduate advisor had a 1 ton long bed Hilux. Very simple and a great little truck.

acksually,,,,


hilux was disco'ed in the 80's or early 90's, not sure which year they started kaming pickups here ,

I had an 82 hilux 4x4 SR5

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
We had small cars and nobody bought them and they were cancelled for the USDM. The Honda Fit comes to mind as well as the Mitsubishi Mirage. The Smart car is no longer sold in the US either. So sales and your opinion of Kei doesn’t match. This could lead to small trucks however.

There is nothing so hard as a mind that cannot change…

The Honda Fit is a GREAT example. Honda sold 50k+ of them for 11 years, and 30k plus in their last three years, after it was announced that US sales were ending, and for a model that at that point hadn’t been updated in 7 years. 775k sold from introduction to end of sale, 2006-2021.

Now that crossovers are classified as passenger vehicles, there’s even more room for a Fit like vehicle.

and even now, a used Honda Fit is commanding a premium on the used market.

Subcompact cars were cancelled because the manufacturers realized profit margins on SUVs are way higher. Once gas prices started to come down it gave the bean counters all the ammunition they needed. Now, hardly any exist. I would love it if Trump brought them back, hell I drove an MR2 daily for over a decade. I love small cars.

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:

There is nothing so hard as a mind that cannot change…

The Honda Fit is a GREAT example. Honda sold 50k+ of them for 11 years, and 30k plus in their last three years, after it was announced that US sales were ending, and for a model that at that point hadn’t been updated in 7 years. 775k sold from introduction to end of sale, 2006-2021.

Now that crossovers are classified as passenger vehicles, there’s even more room for a Fit like vehicle.

Neat quote, but completely irrelevant.

Well aware of the Honda Fit. I helped a good friend, and his son, each buy one before production ended. Almost bought a Fit Sport manual myself but elected 12 years ago, to go with an electric version instead.

American buyers have moved and gravitated to larger and larger vehicles. The CUV is what the herd buys, in droves, and trucks. Passenger cars such as sedans, hatchbacks, aren’t big enough for them. That’s why the mfr’s make more CUV’s and have cancelled their cars. Few wagons exist anymore either. The mfr’s make and sell, what sells. What buyers want. It’s not what I want, at all, but the herd drives the market. They aren’t clamoring for Kei cars or subcompacts. There is wishful thinking, and then there is reality.

The Hilux is probably the only pickup I would buy, unless Ford reintroduces a small Ranger (not the bloated pig they sell now).

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

We had small cars and nobody bought them and they were cancelled for the USDM. The Honda Fit comes to mind

The Honda Fit lives on though. They just made it into a subcompact SUV/Crossover which is what the market here wants.

quote:

Originally posted by onegeek:
The Hilux is probably the only pickup I would buy, unless Ford reintroduces a small Ranger (not the bloated pig they sell now).

Ironically the main reason we don't have small trucks the size of the original Ranger, S10, much less Mini-trucks, is due to our EPA gas mileage standards which must be met. The standard is based on a vehicles size (wheelbase plus track) and the smaller they are the higher the MPG they must achieve. A modern version of a Japanese mini-truck, original Ranger, etc. might achieve 36 mpg. But while that's far better than a big Ford F150's 19 mpg, the EPA target for that small size is about 50 mpg which is impossible for a gasoline powered truck with low gearing and high aerodynamic drag.

Ford's Maverick, which is sized right at the minimum for its class, still needs hybrid versions averaged in to meet the upper 30's mileage requirement. A truck the size of the original Ranger or S10 is much smaller than a Maverick so it would have to achieve considerably higher mpg. Unless the size formula is changed that essentially means it'll have to be battery powered or if ICE a riding lawn mower sized engine.

The only thing I want more than this is the reimagined Subaru Baja. Yum.