Re: Importation of Foreign cars

[C M Smith <cmsmith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At last I see a constituency of Americans beginning to recognize the US 
auto laws for the protectionist crap they really are. They have long since 
ceased to have any relevance in connection with safety or the environment.

The big Three (actually the big two and a half) seem to have Washington 
wrapped around their little finger(s).

Big gas guzzling cars are unsafe and bad for the environment? Fine, make 
'em illegal and allow Americans to buy only big gas guzzling trucks that 
are unsafe and bad for the environment, but have much better profit margins 
than those old cars they used to get to buy.

European and Japanese cars got you down? Fine, make everyone build special 
models just for the US market. Make emissions and safety regs so unique no 
other manufacturers in the world will be able to make money complying with 
them as well as for their home market. Since US manufacturers can make big 
ugly light trucks that no one else in the world could possibly want let 
alone afford to run, the competition will just die away. Even the Japanese 
found it more economical to simply design and build US/Canada only models 
in the US and Canada. Totally weird man. BMW and Mercedes make their SUV in 
the US. Heck, BMW even makes its convertible in the US.

Result? Virtually no foreign sales of US designed or built cars but also, 
virtually no choice for the US consumer from the vast variety available in 
the rest of the world. Walk down any auto dealer strip anywhere in the 
world except the USA/Canada and you can buy from a cornucopia of different 
vehicles that are stylish, economical, fun to drive and safe. Drive down 
(no one in NA walks to a car dealership) any similar street in Canada/USA 
and you can select from a warmed over, extremely limited selection of 
"different" models of car or light truck that are more or less uniformly 
hideous, fuel guzzling and boring to drive. The real choice available to 
the US or Canadian consumer is extremely limited if you look beneath the 
superficial skin to the real car underneath. There are maybe a dozen cars a 
true enthusiast with a normal income could even consider buying, most of 
those provide a pretty unremarkable driving experience.

And butt ugly. The Lexus convertible is breathtakingly ugly. The much 
vaunted Nissan 350 Z is hideous in the flesh, the Infiniti version just 
barely acceptable. Most new designs for the North American market seem to 
have a substantial "hummer" influence. Just incredibly ugly.

The new designs for our market that are not ugly include the Corvette, the 
Mazda 6, possibly the Mini depending upon whether you appreciate the real 
Mini or just the fashionable idea of the old Mini with no understanding of 
what that car was really about, the Mazda RX8, ... I cannot think of 
another at the moment, there may be one or two more. The Infiniti G 35 
sedan isn't bad if a bit generic.

Compare the European cars available such as the Alfa 156 or 166, or 145. 
The Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, Fiat, Seat, even some generic Euro models 
like the Ford and GM Europe cars are better looking than anything we can 
buy. I'm sure there are many more...the Lotus Elyse springs to mind 
immediately for some reason. There are several MG cars that look 
interesting, and so on.

Compare to the Bertone GTV or the Giugiaro GTV6, or the much criticized 
Milano which now looks very current and quite stunning....

We are in sad shape over here on the NA continent. And we are doing this to 
ourselves for no reason at all. Unless you approve of protecting the US 
auto industry so that it can buy up the world's manufacturing capacity and 
make sure everyone in the world has no choice but to buy dull, ugly, boring 
to drive cars. and trucks.

If I see another Hummer 2 anytime soon  I may be sick....

Cheers

Michael


Michael Smith
White 1991 164L
Original owner
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