The Japanese government asked the United States on Thursday for Japan to be exempt from auto tariffs, calling the latest move by its closest ally "extremely regrettable," a top government spokesman says.
The thought of Japan buying American cars is hilarious. American car companies only care about making oversized trucks and SUVs now. Even in America, if you buy a sedan you are most likely getting an import. In the most popular 25 sedan models in America according Kelly Blue Book, the top 5 are all Japanese and there are only 3 from American brands.
There’s an Interesting history of American cars in Japan. Ford had an incredible failure here, and had to leave with egg on their face, which is incredible because the mandatory vehicle inspections every couple of years make it the easiest country on the planet for dealerships to make money.
They tax vehicles by engine displacement though, so all those massive engines would be super unpopular, and as I understand it, they also shipped left hand drive cars here, which is absolutely unpractical.
One wonders why they didn’t just ship UK market fords here, they have the steering wheel on the right side, and the smaller size would be more likely to appeal to drivers with more narrow streets.
It is common to see chargers and mustang on the road in Tokyo though, but they’re all grey market imports.
I believe a lot of them are actually from US service members who bring their cars over when they get their posting changed. AFAIK that’s fully legal, but it’s specifically for individual owners.
Fuck it. Just ban the import of American made cars.
The thought of Japan buying American cars is hilarious. American car companies only care about making oversized trucks and SUVs now. Even in America, if you buy a sedan you are most likely getting an import. In the most popular 25 sedan models in America according Kelly Blue Book, the top 5 are all Japanese and there are only 3 from American brands.
There’s an Interesting history of American cars in Japan. Ford had an incredible failure here, and had to leave with egg on their face, which is incredible because the mandatory vehicle inspections every couple of years make it the easiest country on the planet for dealerships to make money.
They tax vehicles by engine displacement though, so all those massive engines would be super unpopular, and as I understand it, they also shipped left hand drive cars here, which is absolutely unpractical.
One wonders why they didn’t just ship UK market fords here, they have the steering wheel on the right side, and the smaller size would be more likely to appeal to drivers with more narrow streets.
It is common to see chargers and mustang on the road in Tokyo though, but they’re all grey market imports.
I believe a lot of them are actually from US service members who bring their cars over when they get their posting changed. AFAIK that’s fully legal, but it’s specifically for individual owners.
There are none (worth speaking about)