this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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Tesla thinks a grabbing stick is a good replacement for right-hand drive in the UK. (www.arenaev.com)
submitted 2 years ago by L4s to c/technology
50 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Order a Model S or Model X in the UK and you'll receive a left-hand drive car and a bonus grabbing stick.

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[–] Robocopsicle 25 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I could be wrong, but I don't think the 25-year import rule in the US has anything to do with what side drive the car is. It was a law passed in the 80s to shut down gray market imported cars. Importers would buy cars from countries where they sold for much cheaper than the US and then resell them for way less than official dealerships.

The law would've been targeting left-hand-drive vehicles, so the right-hand-drive stuff is just a byproduct of it. I mean, the US government had all of its postal service trucks built to be right hand drive.

[–] XeroxCool 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The issue was also heavily lobbied by Mercedes. It wasn't about profit loss, it was about people importing base and utilitarian Mercedes vehicles. Think cloth seat sedans and offroad unimogs. Mercedes fought this imports in order to uphold their prestige as a luxury manufactuer. They refused to import those things

[–] Robocopsicle 1 points 2 years ago

Ah, that's interesting — and makes a lot of sense.

[–] Zanz 2 points 2 years ago

The dot safety rule is 15 years. Assuming the emissions are the same you could import a right hand at 15 years. You can however order right hand drive cars like jeeps, commercial vans, and other cars used for deliveries.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

Oh I don't know, but it's a good effect. But postal vehicles have a specific need for that.