A tariff on small trucks

Subaru Brat Discussions - HEY BRAT PEOPLE. If you have any ideas for the Brat section of the site, please PM jaxed!
Post Reply
User avatar
bnther36
Scoobytruck Contributer
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 5:37 pm
Location: Kalamazoo Mi

A tariff on small trucks

Post by bnther36 »

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.
bulwnkl
Scoobytruck Master
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:37 am
Location: Arizona, USA

Re: A tariff on small trucks

Post by bulwnkl »

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.
User avatar
bnther36
Scoobytruck Contributer
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 5:37 pm
Location: Kalamazoo Mi

Re: A tariff on small trucks

Post by bnther36 »

"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.
User avatar
Flowmastered87GL
Scoobytruck Master
Posts: 221
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2005 12:53 am
Location: Portland, OR

Re: A tariff on small trucks

Post by Flowmastered87GL »

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
DPDISXR4Ti
Scoobytruck Lurker
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2010 3:13 pm
Location: New York

Re: A tariff on small trucks

Post by DPDISXR4Ti »

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...
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.

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
Post Reply