132
Americans can no longer afford their cars (www.newsweek.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/personalfinance@lemmy.ml
57 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The kicker is that that engineering has already been done because small trucks exist in other countries. Several Japanese automakers sell kei trucks in their domestic market. They could sell them in the US with minimal modification.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Need to add:

    Crash certified bumpers to 5mph Engineered crumple zones Re-enforced A and B pillars Re-enforced doors Air bags

    And I'm quite sure I've forgotten more than one other thing they would need to add Kei style trucks to make them roadworthy in many states. And once you make those upgrades, plus the cost of all the federal testing that would be needed, how much do you think one of those little trucks would cost?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    There is also the trifle that they'd need to be redesigned to place the driver controls on the left. And then of course nobody would buy them even if they were exempt from most of that, because they were made to do 25km/h through Japanese villages and are not well suited for American freeway use.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent