My understanding is that substantial legal barriers have been erected by the US automakers to discourage foreign competition. Cars have to meet US safety and emission standards, have US-approved lights, glass, brakes, tires, seatbelts, and other items. It doesn't matter if the car has already met EU standards (which are in some cases even tougher than US standards). Everything has to be replaced and tested again. That's an expensive proposition. A foreign manufacturer has to be certain of selling a substantial number of cars at a high enough profit margin to recoup the conversion costs.
The US also adds various tariffs and customs fees to imports. For example there is a 25% "chicken tax" on importing light trucks into the US. This is why many foreign automakers have built plants in the US to get around all this. Ironically, all the US automakers sell vehicles that are in part or entirely foreign made. They evade the various import fees with a variety of loopholes. Thus, the only way Citroen can sell cars in the US is by building a plant in the US (like Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes, etc.), or by selling their cars to a US automaker who will re-brand it (such as the Suzuki Swift being sold by GM as a Geo Metro). Lee -- Excellence does not require perfection. -- Henry James -- Lee A. Hart https://www.sunrise-ev.com _______________________________________________ Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/
