Importing cars

[Enola_Straight]

Suppose I’m a bored billionaire and decide; “Hey…I wanna make my own car company.”

I’m no engineer, so instead of making my own cars, I’ll just import them: create a dealership network in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, importing a brand never sold here before: TATA.

http://www.tatamotors.com/home.php

I figure I’d have to provide proof the vehicles pass emissions and crash safety, but what else must I do to establish The TATA Import Company of America?

[Airman_Doors_USAF]

Ask Malcolm Bricklin. He brought the Yugo and the Subaru to the United States and created his own vehicle, the pseudo-exotic Bricklin SV-1.

That said, if it passes emissions and safety requirements I don’t think that there are any obstacles to importation. Just make sure thaqt you have a market beforehand or you’re looking at colossal and expensive failure.

[pkbites]

I spoke to someone at EXCALIBUR once who told me they had to safety test so many cars to satisfy the Feds ( :smack: I can’t remember how many he said, but it was alot!). I really can’t remember the number, but it was enough to discourage someone from importing from some country that doesn’t give a shit about safety, or from building cars in your own little [garage] factory. And then there is the enviro-mental bullshit. Those 2 things are the biggest obsticales to your plan.

I’ve been all over the world and can tell you, there are lots of [inexpensive] cars in the world that will never be seen in the USA.

[zagloba]

Ah, yes. TATA. I was driven all over Rajasthan in a diesel Indica – seemed an nice enough little car. Are they being sold anywhere outside of Asia yet?

I don’t think they’re designed to be anywhere near US safety or emission requirements, though I think TATA has ambitions to expand into the world market eventually. At this point, though, you’ll have to get them to build a special version for you. The crash requirements might be the hardest to meet if the cars haven’t already been designed with sufficient crush zones.

[MrAlpen]

@zagloba

Ah, yes. TATA. I was driven all over Rajasthan in a diesel Indica – seemed an nice enough little car. Are they being sold anywhere outside of Asia yet?

I don’t think they’re designed to be anywhere near US safety or emission requirements, though I think TATA has ambitions to expand into the world market eventually. At this point, though, you’ll have to get them to build a special version for you. The crash requirements might be the hardest to meet if the cars haven’t already been designed with sufficient crush zones.

Indica was imported to the UK by the defunct MG-Rover group, and rebadged as a CityRover (can’t remember the capitalisation). Anyhow, its safety performance was dire, and sales were abysmal: simply way off the pace of competing vehicles, and not cheap enough for the performance to be tolerable. See this link for pictures .

Don’t start your import business with this car! Still, it could be worse - check out the EuroNCAP performance of the Jingling Landwind 4x4 …

[MrAlpen]

@pkbites

I spoke to someone at EXCALIBUR once who told me they had to safety test so many cars to satisfy the Feds ( :smack: I can’t remember how many he said, but it was alot!). I really can’t remember the number, but it was enough to discourage someone from importing from some country that doesn’t give a shit about safety, or from building cars in your own little [garage] factory. And then there is the enviro-mental bullshit. Those 2 things are the biggest obsticales to your plan.

I’ve been all over the world and can tell you, there are lots of [inexpensive] cars in the world that will never be seen in the USA.

Low volume manufacturers can (and do) appeal for exemptions from aspects of the US legislation. They can not exempt themselves from the litigious nature of the US consumer, however: this would frighten most of the exoticars away if it wasn’t for the counteracting lure of the market’s wealth.

[Balthisar]

@pkbites

I spoke to someone at EXCALIBUR once who told me they had to safety test so many cars to satisfy the Feds ( :smack: I can’t remember how many he said, but it was alot!). I really can’t remember the number, but it was enough to discourage someone from importing from some country that doesn’t give a shit about safety, or from building cars in your own little [garage] factory. And then there is the enviro-mental bullshit. Those 2 things are the biggest obsticales to your plan.

I’ve been all over the world and can tell you, there are lots of [inexpensive] cars in the world that will never be seen in the USA.

There are a lot of inexpensive cars made by USA-based companies that you’ll never see in the USA, either. Aside from crash test and emissions, there are thousands and thousands of little federal regulations that govern aspects of automotive assembly you’ve probably never thought about. You know how the Big 2.5 are always trying to go to federal court to stop California from doing something that will screw up assembly for the whole country? Imagine trying to make everyone in the world happy. And don’t forget that the USA isn’t necessarily the strictest about everything, either.