A friend of mine was telling me that the reason Subaru actually put the back seats in the bed was to avoid the 25% tariff on foreign small trucks. Is that the reason the Baja had 4 seats? When I was younger, I used to see a lot of smaller trucks. (Does anyone remember the Chevy LUV?)
I'm just curious as I don't see a lot of small 2 seat pickups out there. The market could really use a small fuel-efficient AWD pickup.
A tariff on small trucks
Re: A tariff on small trucks
The tariff was on 2-door SUVs vs 4-door ones. Don't know about pickups, except that they had tariffs on them. Don't know whether the tariff is still in place or not, either.
The Baja wouldn't be/have been subject to the tariff even if it had been a 2-door, 2-seater because it was assembled in the USA.
The Baja wouldn't be/have been subject to the tariff even if it had been a 2-door, 2-seater because it was assembled in the USA.
Re: A tariff on small trucks
"The Baja wouldn't be/have been subject to the tariff even if it had been a 2-door, 2-seater because it was assembled in the USA."
Good point. I had forgotten about that.
Good point. I had forgotten about that.
- Flowmastered87GL
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Re: A tariff on small trucks
i believe the tariff was lifted or relaxed later... thats why the newer brats didnt have the jumpseats. And I am sure the lawyers had something to do with it maybe...
2005 Baja Sport, 51k ("NU BRAT")
2004 Freightliner Columbia Day Cab 504k
2004 Freightliner Columbia Day Cab 504k
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Re: A tariff on small trucks
Nope, the tariff still exists today - it's why you don't see any foreign-built trucks sold in the USA. By welding the jump seats in the bed, the Brat was classified as a car and thus not subject to the higher tax rate.Flowmastered87GL wrote:i believe the tariff was lifted or relaxed later... thats why the newer brats didnt have the jumpseats. And I am sure the lawyers had something to do with it maybe...
When NHTSA told Subaru to ditch the seats, they only continued to sell the Brat here for one more year; only '87 Brats came in without the seats.
Brad