Here is a sampling of many other Toyota REAL four wheel drive trucks not sold here in the USA. These are how the older 4WD Toyota trucks used to be here in America, but they got much "softer" over the years:
LC79 model
Another LC79 profile. You gotta love that OEM air intake snorkel!
I really do not understand why the United States, a country where the top two best selling vehicles are trucks and half of all new vehicle sales are trucks, does not get some of the great trucks offered in other parts of the world.
-These Toyotas ^^
-land rover defender
-Cross lander
-Unimog (maybe these are sold here, not sure?)
-Jeep cherokee (they are still sold in china)
I know it all has to do with safety and emisions, but all these companies have clean engines that could be used for U.S. bound models, and damnit, if I want to drive a less safe vehicle it is none of the governments concern.
Not wanting to turn this into SA vs IFS debate, i think part of the reason why many of these 3rd world countries are still getting these old school toyotas because their region does not consume enough volume to adapt the new stuff.
as long as they sell the fj in australia, some company over there will make one for sure, i noticed many cars had snorkels when i was there, even this mini van i was in had one too
The reason we dont get the cool stuff onter countries do is this: America is a cash cow; why sell the small margin utilitarian stuff when they can sell the 60k+ TLC and make HUGE profit on it when americans 1) dont need the capabilities of 3rd world vehicles (for the most part) and 2) will pay way too much for luxo behemoths? its all about the dollars, my friends. thats also why they still build the good stuff for 3rd world countries and places like Oz, they need and use the capabilities of the vehicle there and most people DONT want luxo widgets, so they would be loosing money trying to sell US market SUVs there.
unimogs are sold here in the US, in limited numbers at least. some yuppie with yoo much money took one into the HI-Fi shop i used to work at and got a system put in his. i think he said it was one of SEVEN in the US at the time.
As I've understood it,
One of the main reasons these other models won't make it to the US is the fact that they are completely out of date with US vehicle import rules. They don't meet US emission standards, or US crash standards, or US air bag requirements, or the 1000 other standards the NTSA has imposed on the automobile industry over the last few decades.
It would simply be too expensive to try to retrofit these models with all of the modern equipment to make it legal to import them to the US. Then there is the fact that Toyota would have to attempt to sell the vehicle as "New" when everyone would know its an old model from another country.
They wouldn't sell enough to recoup the investment unless these vehicle were sold for 90K. Case in point, Mercedes G Class. This hard core simple offroader had to be recreated as a luxury cruiser just to validate its over the top cost.
cheazhd - i have looked into importing 70 series cruisers into the US. now, most of this is word of mouth, so i may be totally off base here, but from what i understand Japan has equivalent or better safety regs than US standards for vehicles of a given year, as such should be importable with very little modification (RHD to LHD, KM-Miles, etc).
im not sure about this, but from what i understand 70 series (and hilux for that matter) are still being sold in japan thus, logically, they meet current japan regs and should meet current US Federal regs.
i do agree that they couldnt be sold as a "new" model, for whatever reason i really doubt americans (excluding cruiserheads, of course) would buy a "hand-me-down" from overseas markets.
cheazhd - i have looked into importing 70 series cruisers into the US. now, most of this is word of mouth, so i may be totally off base here, but from what i understand Japan has equivalent or better safety regs than US standards for vehicles of a given year, as such should be importable with very little modification (RHD to LHD, KM-Miles, etc).
im not sure about this, but from what i understand 70 series (and hilux for that matter) are still being sold in japan thus, logically, they meet current japan regs and should meet current US Federal regs.
I do agree that they couldnt be sold as a "new" model, for whatever reason i really doubt americans (excluding cruiserheads, of course) would buy a "hand-me-down" from overseas markets.
I know what you are saying, but I think it is much more complex than changing the guages and related things. Even if the Japan safety regs are the same as the US, there are a ton of other regs for design/manufacturing that are not. I'm sure you (being in the military) understand more than most, how complex things can get when you involve a government agency.
To use a California metaphor, I think of importing these other models like earthquake retrofitting (like the L.A. City Hall project). It actually takes more time and money to retrofit a building, than to design and create a completely new and modern one from scratch.
I definately hear you on that one! but there is another thing about the goverment: there is a loophole for everything! ill keep my fingers crossed, but its not like i have the money (or i should say the wife wont allot me the money) to spend 15k on a brand new 15 year old vehicle...
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