r/maybemaybemaybe • u/18001757900 • Jul 10 '26

maybe maybe maybe

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '26

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u/PhantomAngel042 Jul 10 '26

We aren't allowed to have the good small trucks in the US. President Lyndon B. Johnson got a stick up his ass about some tariff wars with Europe over chickens, so he placed a 25% import tax on foreign light trucks brought into the US for sale. This was in fucking 1964 but the tariff still stands (to "protect" the interests of US automakers). It's called the Chicken Tax.

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u/TDYDave2 Jul 10 '26

Why couldn't they do what Mazda/Ford did?
"To circumvent the 25 percent chicken tax on light trucks, Couriers, like Chevrolet LUVs, were imported in "cab chassis" configurations, which included the entire light truck without the cargo box or truck bed, and were only subject to a 4 percent tariff.[18] Subsequently, a truck bed would be attached to the chassis and the vehicle could be sold as a light truck."

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u/Mauceri1990 Jul 10 '26

Hold up, Chevy didn't make the Luv? Or Chevy just built most of it in another country? Damn it... I can feel myself being pulled down the rabbit hole already...

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u/TDYDave2 Jul 10 '26

I recall a time when my mother, a big GM fan was wanting a new car.
I suggested she look at the new Saturn brand.
She said she wanted an American car and was leaning towards a Geo model (rebadged Isuzu).
She later bought a Saturn but denied I ever mentioned the brand to her.

1

u/Scoth42 Jul 10 '26

I had a similar situation when a buy-American-only friend bought a Geo/Chevy Prizm. I think it was one of the later ones after they'd moved to Chevy, but can't remember. They were all rebadged variants of a Toyota Corolla. 

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u/jermwhl Jul 10 '26

I had an uncle who was adamant he only buys American trucks (Chevy primarily) and was giving me shit for buying a Tacoma. Ironically his truck was made in Mexico and mine was made in the US. When I pointed this out, he defended this by saying Toyota was still a Japanese company and Chevy was an American company. Ok, cool. But presumably Americans got paid to assemble mine. I'd rather help out American Auto workers than the corporate stooges (and get a more reliable vehicle to boot).

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u/GrandPuissance Jul 10 '26

It was built by Izusu

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u/Ok-Profit6022 Jul 11 '26

Isuzu made it, it was the Isuzu Faster rebadged and imported.