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Comment by jcomp | Hacker News Reader

Mexico is more broadly a showroom for all sorts of vehicles you can't buy in the US, namely those that don't meet US safety or emissions requirements. The Hilux being the notable example, though not covered in the below link.

https://www.jalopnik.com/the-coolest-non-us-cars-americans-c...

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Emissions? These are EVs mostly. And these cars are safe enough for the EU.

Any vehicles with GPS or cellular modules made in Russia or China are explicitly banned. There's also a pending law to ban any automakers that have 15% or greater ownership by people from China, Russia, or Iran.

They are just outright banned. Has nothing to do with safety or emissions.

I don't disagree, I only mention it to clarify that "available in Mexico but not the US" isn't limited to Chinese EVs. The article's tone in my opinion implies some kind of conspiracy to deprive the US of cool EVs, when in fact there is a much broader conspiracy to deprive us of Hiluxes (Hiluxi?)!

it is deeply ironic that a toyota hilux pickup truck - an actually practical pickup truck - does not meet US "standards" but the pedestrian killing, inefficient, wasteful, and expensive "pickups" from US auto companies somehow do.

The Hilux issue is a bit more complicated as a result of the "chicken tax" of 25% on imported light-duty trucks. Toyota made the Tacoma for the US market and built it here to avoid that tax, and now the economics of the Hilux don't make sense for them to import even if it met safety/emissions standards. It would certainly kill the market for the Tacoma.

Edit: My poor phrasing certainly did read that way though, I should have been more clear.

Toyota has not attempted to certify the Hilux in USA because they already sell the Tacoma, which occupies the similar market.

Nobody has said the Hilux can't be sold in USA. Toyota simply hasn't tried.

My beloved 4Runner was made in Japan, as is the rest of them (from what I understand). One of the few models still to be made exclusively in Tahara, Aichi, that you can get in the US.

And to echo others...blame the chicken tax.

One big reason the Hilux is not imported to the US, and instead we have a separate domestically built Tacoma, is due to the longstanding Chicken Tax tariff on imported light trucks.

Yeah safety, that's what it's all about

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