Kei-class trucks and minivans from Japan are finding US buyers who want pickups that fit the urban environment. Some DMVs and safety regulators have other ideas.
You’re going to drive a half-ton, lifted, child-killing machine and you’re gonna like it!
And make payments for 108 months.
A proper small car would sell like hot cakes, but they just don’t have the profit margins and is a regulatory problem asking too much from their small and simple frames/engines.
For a moment I was confused, because a lifted child-killing machine should weigh at least 2 tons. Everything below that is embarrassing.
But according to a quick search “half-ton” describes the max payload of the vehicle, not the weight.
Do you know how hard it was for me to buy a Prius? First we looked at dealerships, none of which had any to test drive so they kept stealing us toward their SUVs and Trucks. Then we went to the Chicago auto show where we could look at whatever the fuck we wanted and confirmed we would in fact like a Prius. Then we started calling up dealerships to ask if they had a Prius to test drive until we finally had a “lucky winner”. We drove out to the dealership, test drove the car, argued with them about what we actually wanted, and then finally signed papers and gave a down payment on a car. The. We waited 6 months for delivery and a recall lift. In total it took us 9 months to get our small little Prius. Other small cars were in a similar situation. However, if you waltzed into any dealership and asked for a giant truck, you could buy one that day with no interest! I know so because my father in law did just that the same year we got our Prius. Quite sad really.
I bought one five months ago, and finally they were able to source one but they had to do a dealer trade. I never even got to see the combination of options I wanted in person in advance because supply for that car was so limited.
It’s just not as profitable a vehicle to sell compared to those big trucks. And even then, sales are way behind their RAV4.
and is a regulatory problem asking too much from their small and simple frames/engines.
could you elaborate on that point some?
My understanding is that the emission standards are based on the type of vehicle and footprint, which encourages building the largest possible vehicles. Advancements in efficiency have been more than eaten up for by the ballooning vehicle sizes. We have a severe obese car problem.
There are exemptions to fuel efficiency standards in the USA for larger vehicles.
Not actually true, Obama’s CAFE standards tied fuel efficiency to chassis size. It’s stupid as hell, but it’s why everything is an SUV now - easier to build a billion of those than actually innovate on engine tech.
