LondonRam

Having been brought up in Europe and members of my family owning Alfa Romeo's, Lancia, Renualt etc, I wonder why certain makes do not makes its way over to the US.

My last car in England before moving out here was a TVR Chimera, which I would love to own here (although it spent quite some time in the garage) but heard that it will take 25 years to legally import here so it can be classed as a 'classic'.....is it just the way of life or a specific law?

speed_bump

Usually has to do with US safety and emissions (especially Califonia) standards. Those manufacturers do not want to go through the hassle to meet those standards for a small number of sales and they would have to jack up the price to cover those changes. TVR Chimera is sweeeeeet.

WestSideBilly

To be certified for sale in the US, a car needs to undergo about half a dozen different crash tests (read: 6+ totaled cars), plus pass emissions certification in all engine/transmission configurations (several more cars). This is a time consuming and expensive proposition, especially for smaller companies. If the cars fail any testing, they have to be re-engineered to pass (again, time-consuming and expensive), and re-tested. The crash testing requirements is the reason that most exotics aren't U.S. legal.

Unless the manufacturer feels the cars will easily pass the tests as-is AND sell fairly well here, they won't bother.

lehighwiz

what kind of emissions and/or crash test standards does the rest of the world have? Is the US the only country to have such demanding requirements? I always wondered that.

Thanks

Matt

LondonRam

Thats interesting....sounds like safety standards and pollution controls aren't as stringent in Europe.

Funny how the Germans make the effort to meet the requirements but not the French, Italian (apart from the Ferrari etc).

negcamber

Another big factor is litigation in the US. Many smaller companies can't afford to withstand a lawsuit filed to recover $1million for pain and suffering related to the owner smashing his fingers in the car door when the manufacturer should have had a warning label telling him to remove fingers before slaming the door.

But Alfa, Fiat and Renault imported up until the 80's. I know Alfa stopped after Chrysler bought them because they did not think there were enough units sold to justify continued dealership support.

You can however get some specialty cars into the US as kit cars. TVR used to do this, and Ginetta currently does. They send the car over without the engine and you put in an emissions legal powerplant and register the car by the engine. For Ginetta, they use a Miata engine and register the car as a Miata.

cutes2k

I think you will find it is not crash realted but emission tests. With California being the problem ( and so it should with the pollution probems that state has) and it is the biggest market in the US. Crash related, it is not mandatory for US drivers to wear seat belts? and your airbags go off with ten times the force of other countries and at a lower speed to compensate for this right to endanger your own life?

Ice

Marketing costs, price, proposed sales, facilities working at their limits. Introducing brands cost a lot of money, Alfa is going to the US in a couple of years, but with the FIAT group having a

naparsei

There is someone in the Bay Area who imported a late model TVR to the US. His story is available somewhere on the internet - he has a website dedicated to it. His story is long and painful, and I doubt anybody would go through his agony just to get a car here - with essentially no service, etc... but it's apparently possible.