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How the heck did we get here? Most best selling "cars" are now superzied pickups and SUVs.
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this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2023
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Trucks have been bestselling models for literally decades.
It's because there's a 25% tariff on importing trucks. It was put in place nearly 60 years ago by Lyndon B Johnson; it's called the "chicken tax" because the excuse for passing it was as a retaliatory tariff against France and Germany taxing American factory farmed chicken.
Because of the chicken tax, fairly few foreign car companies in the US sell pickups.
And because being a "best selling" model is good marketing, truck makers generally sell very few models of truck. For example, the best selling vehicle right now is the Ford "F series". So that's the F150, F250, and F350, in all of their assorted trims. There's a couple other models they sell - the Maverick and the Ranger - but most of the trucks Ford sells are F series.
So a truck driver has been much more likely to drive a F-series for decades than a car driver was to be driving a Civic.
Don't forget the insane fuel efficiency calculation that rewards larger, less efficient trucks over the smaller more efficient ones we used to have. It's the reason even an f150 is gargantuan compared to ones of the past.
Not just bikes literally compared them to ww2 tanks
I just don't understand why the tariff applies to foreign cars that don't compete directly with US cars in terms of form factor
Because it's designed to protect Ford etc. from foreign competition.
Mind if hijack your comment to clarify a doubt I have?
In the early 2000's I had an acquantaice move to the US, somewhere in California.
After driving a typical american car for about six months, that person came to Europe, bought a hot hatchback, bolted on it every aftermarket part available for the car, had all the mods approved by the manufacturer and imported it, which awarded them a very high power/low consumption vehicle when compared with the standard american market, and I was told all the money spent was recouped in a few years.
Would this still be valid today?