In the original Matrix movie, the great awakening – to the reality of the Matrix, which is a hidden background reality-hallucination – is that human beings are slaves. Here’s a way to grasp the extent to which we have been enslaved:
As readers of this column know, I own an old Nissan Frontier pick-up. It is a 2002 model. When it was new 23 years ago, it stickered for just under $13k. That does not sound like much relative to what a small truck costs today. But that is because most people have no idea what a small truck costs today – nor what it costs relative to what mine cost.
That’s a little cryptic, so let me make it clearer.
If my truck were new today, its sticker price would be just over $23k – the adjusted for inflation cost of $13k in 2020 dollars in 2024 dollars.
That’s still inexpensive relative to the cost of the 2024 trucks you’re allowed to buy today. The least expensive of them – such as the current Chevy Colorado – cost just under $30k to start.
On the other hand, small trucks you’re not allowed to buy – such as the 2024 Toyota Hi Lux Champ – are much less expensive than my 23-year-old truck was when it was new.
My truck has just the basics. Small four cylinder engine that doesn’t make a lot of power (143 horsepower) paired with a manual transmission. It has manual roll-up windows. It does not have cruise control or climate control AC. It has basic mechanical AC, the one luxury it came with from the factory.
The 2024 HiLux comes standard with a small four cylinder engine that makes about the same power (137 horsepower) paired with a manual transmission. It comes standard with a one-ton payload capacity and electrically powered outside mirrors. It is available with a diesel engine – which was never available when my Nissan was new. It comes standard with a configurable bed that can be customized to your liking – another useful feature that wasn’t available back in 2002. And still isn’t available – here – because “safety.” Meaning, because compliance; the Champ’s configurable bed does not conform to every jot and tittle of federal “safety” regs.
The point here is that the ’24 HiLux Champ is very similar in terms of its basic-ness and general layout to the small pick-ups like my ’02 Frontier you used to be able to buy until they all got replaced by “mid-sized” trucks that are dimensionally almost the same size as the full-sized trucks of the ’90s and much more expensive (in real, inflation adjusted dollars).
But it is different in that it – the HiLux – is priced about $10,000 less (in real, buying-power dollars) than my little Frontier cost when it was new.
Chew on that for just a moment.
Advances in material sciences, manufacturing efficiencies, economies-of-scale brought to bear – a variety of such things – have made it possible for Toyota to put together and sell a basic small pick-up truck for $10,000 less than what it cost to put together (and sell) a basic small truck 23 years ago.
Put another way, we ought to be paying much less for the same.
Instead we’re obliged to pay much more – and aren’t even allowed the same. Thanks to such things as the “chicken tax” – which is a punitive tariff applied to small imported trucks that makes them more expensive trucks. Manufacturers like Toyota and Nissan and others no longer import them because the cost of selling them (here) would be too high for a basic small truck without all of the cost-adding amenities that have pushed the entry price point of the least-expensive (and now “mid-sized”) trucks we’re allowed to buy to just shy of $30k.
But it is the cost of compliance that makes it effectively impossible to sell small, basic trucks like the HiLux Champ in this country.
The Champ does not have air bags in its doors or built into its seats. It lacks all of the mandatory “safety” technology required by the federal apparat, including a closed-circuit back-up camera system. But most of all, its form is not compliant.
In order to make it so – in order for it to be able to comport with all the minutia of bumper-and-side-impact standards promulgated in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) “bible,” it would be necessary to wholesale re-engineer the Hi-Lux to be something like the Tacoma pickup – which you are allowed to buy here. It stickers for $31,500 to start. Which it does, in part, because it comes standard with a turbocharged four cylinder engine and an automatic transmission – as well as climate control AC, a six speaker stereo, cruise control, heated outside mirrors and a bundle of “Safety Sense” “advanced drive assistance technologies,” including Lane Departure Mitigation and Automatic emergency braking.
But also – and chiefly – because it is compliant.
Its interior has been built around the front and rear air bags and side-impact air bags (six, all told) that had to be integrated into the dashboard and door panels so on that had to be designed around them. The whole structure of the vehicle had to be designed around them.
U.S. legal Taco’s front and rear ends and literally everything else had to be made to comply with the roster of rigmarole emanating from the Department of Transportation. The drivetrain had to be designed to comply with the EPA’s rigmarole (which is why the turbo’d and direct injected engine and the automatic transmission).
That is why a new U.S.-legal Taco costs about twice as much as a Taco made the same year my ’02 Frontier was made.
And it is why we’re not allowed to buy a new small truck like the ’24 Champ that is comparable to my ’02 Frontier and in some ways superior and can be bought for about $10k less.
Just not here.
. . .
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If a sub-$20k small truck did manage to pass Uncle’s screening process, I doubt the dealers could resist the opportunity to charge a premium ala the Ford Maverick, knowing that many people would be wealthy buyers seeking weekend toys or kids’ cars.
The only place I saw a sticker of $19,995 for a Maverick was in the fleet delivery section of my local dealer’s lot.
The dot gov shitheads including Trump the Chump are meddling in the free market and preventing Nippon Steel from making a legitimate purchase of US Steel (X).
Since when do those knuckleheads get to say who can buy what and who can sell what?
My hunch is the share price of X is being manipulated so traders can make a killing on puts and/or calls.
US Steel is down almost seven dollars per share today.
BlackRock owns more than 10 percent of the shares, they know how to make stakeholder decisions.
Better hold at that price and buy back in at 10 dollars after the bloodbath.
Bankrupt BlackRock, there it was, gone!
Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street own 20% of just about anything important, including US Steel.
They would rather merge US Steel with Cleveland Cliffs (also 20% owned by the three) and establish a near monopoly of domestic steel production.
The Japanese want to just make steel at a profit. Imagine.
Anything that stymies Jew-run Blackrock is fine by me.
FMVSS is a root of evil.
I used to daily drive a sand-rail in VA. It was a kit built in Ohio, which when brought here, the DMV screwed up, manually entered the make as ASVE, on par with FORD, and zeros were added to the vin, so compliant with VA’s system. It’s the reason I still have the broken thing, because the title is soo good, waiting to be re-registered.
I had a custom acrylic body I made from the hardware store and bits of scraps. Thing was soo cool with it’s lopey 1835 Volks engine.
I tried getting an inspection sticker, which lasted a week before a DMV special agent came to look at it and gush over how cool it was, before going antique.
I added AS1 safety glass, DOT lights, everything. Plugged PCV valve, allowing it to breath through the oil drain tube, and rodded out Catalytic converters, attached to J tubes that would break from the weight and I’d re-weld. Had the wiper from a Toyota Camry attached where my knees went, and the washer bottle was a soda bottle.
It complied with 1986 emissions, when the kit was built, as long as a smog sniffer was never used, which in RVA there isn’t smog testing, except visual confirmation in my case.
All-in-all it was basically completely compliant, or could be made as such in short order.
One day the head of the Virginia safety inspection program at the state police was taking pictures of it while I was at the gun shop, and dispite my compliance efforts, for which he was taken aback, said the space frame tube chassis was not a federally approved type of frame, and at his mercy decided to let me drive it home.
A couple months later I was continuing to drive it, had rolled it over on an on ramp with some spirited driving. The tube frame saved my live. I would have been a bloody mess if it were in a rusty beetle chassis. Not a scratch on me. I was meaning to get that 3 point seat belt, did fine with a 2 point. I was meaning to make a battery box, as my wiring had tied everything at the battery positive terminal. I could have made it home had that not disconnected briefly, although it means the engine never fired once it became upside down and that the engine is still good.
That tube frame was the best frame, dispite not being compliant with FMVSS. That rule is not arbitrary, it’s to limit our freedom, to take still running engines and build whatever vehicle you like. That’s not by accident, rather on purpose like the killing of a bald eagle. FMVSS can goto hell!
I think the auto manufacturers initially agreed to ever increasing government requirements because they knew that every new requirement that they could comply with meant that competition from start ups would be reduced. Why push back on regulations when you could easily comply, but your future competition couldn’t.
Now look where we are. Shortsightedness on the part of company owners got us here. And of course the bastards in government, as always.
I have NEVER complied with Federal Safety Standards I didn’t agree with – beginning in ’68 with the stupid, ugly side marker lights making a car look like a Christmas tree. There are ways to have a non-complying vehicle in the States however one must be careful, resourceful and be willing to pay cash.
Hi Doug,
Amen. I used to have a good friend inside Toyota; if he were still around, I’d ask him about furtively arranging for me to buy a Champ. I’d love to be able to drive one of these around here in defiance of the regime!
Driving in defiance of the regime is one of the greatest thrills. Makes you feel like a real American!
Buy it in the Bahamas.
https://www.toyotahiluxchamp.com/the-toyota-hilux-champ-is-currently-only-available-in-two-countries/
I think I would ask what the companies that are selling get out of the deal. Sure, gets to be the entity that wrote the rule, but Govt., Banks, and Corporations are three legs of one. I see how 2 of the 3 benefit, but the argument that the Govt. pushes rules that Corps. must comply with on their own without input from the cronies making the widgets doesn’t add up. Is it simply they have a captive customer base that costs get passed to and automakers don’t care? Is there a longer-term deal/goal (bail-outs) that automakers win on by agreeing with the ever-increasing mandates? Just hard to believe the powers to be don’t have a say in it and are glad to produce things that a ‘normal’ businessman would not produce. Not arguing the govt. is free from blame, just noting that there’s more fingers to point.
>standard with a configurable bed
Hey, Eric,
Is the Ma Deuce (0.50 BMG) mount an RPO (Regular Production Option) from Toyota, or are those strictly aftermarket parts?
Asking for a friend…
🙂
LOL. Pretty sure that’s a US dealer option, just ask the Taliban
IIRC, they’re usually sporting the Dushka, not a Ma Deuce.
I have friends that work at dealerships and they all tell me that car companies have to quit sending EVs, nobody wants to buy the stupid things.
Paraphrasing Scotty Kilmer’s words.
Elon needs to build an EV called the Chump, it will be a double entendre model.
Hey, the 2025 Chevrolet Corvair is here! (I think)
That is what the search reveals via the internets.
It is a hybrid, it does look cool.
Drumphish,
RE: the 2025 Corvair: I think not.
I’m seeing YouTube videos featuring AI-generated pictures and not much else. One tell-tale sign is print being gibberish, i.e. “Chevrolet” will be scribed in alien font or misspelled. Man, YouTube is chock-full of AI-generated bullshit.
BaDnOn, I did check Chevy dot com and didn’t see one, so it is just a wishing and hoping.
Chevy would probably sell a lot of them if it were a real story.
I received my ATP AT-205 re-seal bottle today. Ordered it at Amazon. You can buy the product there.
Drumphish,
Interesting, and if my coolant leak were a marginal problem, I might try that, but since that truck isn’t my daily driver, I will wait to do it properly.
Thanks though!
Addendum:
I do, however, wonder if it would be worth a shot on my backhoe… While I love my backhoe, that bastard is a regular environmental disaster on wheels. Such a product MIGHT do some justice for the transmission, diff and finals. Hmmm…
I refrained from writing about the product until I received it in the mail.
Got the information from Scotty Kilmer, that’s why I bought it, he recommended the stuff.
Do not use in brake system
Read and follow all directions and instructions.
It’s another great day in America.
If they did it would unquestionably be DOA. Like the electric VW bus, something for the dealers to put on display… indefinitely.
“Thanks to such things as the “chicken tax” – which is a punitive tariff applied to small imported trucks”
And Orange Man waxes lovingly at increasing tariffs everyday. He speaks of them like they are our Messiah. Some people speak of him playing 5D chess. Sometimes I wonder if he could play 2D checkers.
$13k in 2002,,, 23k in 2024! A 75% loss in 12 years!
And that’s what THEY are saying. Considering everything they say are lies, probably runs about 99%. I’d wager they are devaluing the currency by about 15-20% per year over the last 50 years.
Talk about getting robbed! Big Joe just handed Ukraine millions more,,, Still supplying bombs to Israhell and funding terrorists to take over nations (Syria),,,Iran is next, so how many billions there?
All this while Americans in North Carolina are living in tents. You do notice we hear nothing of their plight? That doesn’t mean all is well….
And check out the Pentagram… haven’t passed an audit in years. So where’s the beef? We all know its beefing up bank accounts of all the corpgov clowns. We (yes we!) don’t even hold Con-gress responsible. They just borrow and spend,,, borrow and spend,,,borrow and spend,,, borrow and spend,,, and so on. Worse,,, they’re sending it all to shit-hole nations that bomb their neighbors or arm terrorists usually both. This used to be called robbery,,, now called government.
First goes the money then goes the nation. That’s how it has worked for thousands of years. The USA just held elections where neither contestant was qualified to run a Cub Scout den much less govern a nation. Same with most of the other losers,,, con-gress critters down to dog catcher.
While they devalue the currency, called inflation, we have to pay more for food and the foreign made goods.
First they ship off the production and the jobs that go with it,,, then devalue the currency into oblivion. The overlords then stash their ill gotten gains in banks around the world in gold, silver, bitcoin or whatever.
When the crash occurs they run to their tax paid hideouts while the citizens kill each other until a new government is formed and then the robbery process starts all over.
“The overlords then stash their ill gotten gains in banks around the world in gold, silver, bitcoin or whatever.”
The same options are available to everyone.
The US dollar isn’t a store of wealth.
At least the fictional Clark Griswold pointed out the “plight” of East Saint Louis.
ROLL ‘EM UP!
Geez Eric what a downer to start my morning, wish I could hack a few hypersonic missiles and send them at all the regulatory agencies in the District of Criminals. I don’t think Orange Man will ever be able to drain the swamp even if he really tries to, the busy-bodying has been going on for so long and is so entrenched that it will require totally abolishing said agencies. There are just too many parasites feeding off the grift to let it come to an end.
I liked my 96 Ford Ranger with V6. Had an extended cab with (2) side folding jump seats which worked great for my kids when they were small. Drove it over 200K. Downside it didn’t get great gas mileage, 17 town 20 highway. It was repairable as well. Towards the end the general control module was failing. Bought a used one on Ebay and replaced and ran like new. The heater blending door failed…bad deal. $50 dollar part but pull the dash to get to it and $1500 in labor. Found a solution on the internet…Heater Treater. They provided a pattern and Dremel tool to cut the heater box in the cab and provided a spring-loaded shaft replacement door. Tape the cookie back on the heater box and pop the control actuator back on and your back in business for $125 and 2 hours of your time. https://www.heatertreater.net/
This is why you still see Rangers and Corollas on the road, simple and built to last and repairable with average tools and knowledge.
‘The cost of compliance makes it effectively impossible to sell small, basic trucks like the HiLux Champ in this country.’
So stop complying!!!!!
This begins at the personal level.
We are in this pickle because everyone just complies. Pay your taxes, vote, spend those inflated dollars, take those near zero interest loans, wear the mask, get your clothes shot, cash your social security check, do see the doctor via Medicare.
We did this to ourselves.
Yes, the automakers screwed themselves but not without a hearty endorsement from the public which kept on (and still is) buying these over priced, over regulated cars and trucks mostly on cheap credit. Buying stuff they can’t afford trying to impress people they don’t even know at the stoplight.
Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed but I’m growing sort of tired of hearing how the government or the automakers did this to us.
Fact: we did this to ourselves.
We? I didn’t do nuffin’. I buy well-used cars.
Yes we.
We have all failed to resist the “system” in one way or another.
The only way out is non-compliance and for the government and all that it does to be an object of scorn.
Although the federal government may already be an object of ridicule, until it is mocked and resisted by noncompliance by the public, States, and corporations at large, we will get more of what we deserve.
I’m happy to see states like California beginning to plan to defy the FedGov on deportation. It’s not that I support illegal immigration (despise it), but it is the beginning of States saying FU to the FedGov and nullifying what the swamp in DC mandates.
Now do that times 50. Let California be overrun will illegals. Let Vermont ship theirs to CA.
Let states say FU to everything the swamp of DC decrees.
It would be a good start.
I agree, Burn it Down –
And, I have tried. When I got out of college, I didn’t buy a ew car. All my friends did. I preferred my paid-for ($700) ’74 Beetle to a new Saab or BMW. But because most of them (and this scales) did buy the ew Saab or BMW, it came to pass that there were no longer any basic/cheap new cars left to buy. Everyone (just about) had have AC and all the bells and whistles. And so now we all have to have them.
I have two Super Beetles on standby.
Awaiting the day when only “vintage” cars can be licensed when they decide to restrict ICE registrations. Or maybe the day will arrive when affordable, easy to repair ICE use cars are hard to come by. Maybe they will become “valuable” again to someone other than a cranky curmudgeon like me.
Newest vehicle in my “fleet” is 2012 and I can’t envision buying anything newer than that ever again.
Excellent, Burn it!
I wish I had one. I regret being a fool and selling my last one. I continue to keep my eyes open for one. If it weren’t for the obnoxious “property tax” I just sent the government, I’d have about half what it takes to buy a decent one. Ah, well. At least I have my truck!
Don’t get me wrong Eric, neither of the Beetles is roadworthy at the moment.
However they are easy to quickly fix and put on the road.
IMHO, the time to find them is now. . . Before you really need them.
Beetles have a huge aftermarket of parts and global parts suppliers. The US cannot completely shut the flow of parts off.
If stuff goes down the way I think it’s going to, by the time you really want a vintage Beetle, they will be rare as hens teeth here in US. Start looking now.
The other side of that scenario; if the States to stand up to DC and begin to nullify DC, there are literally millions and millions of cheap affordable used cars in circulation globally, we could begin to import them the same way places like Europe are now importing our collector vehicles. I’d be more than happy to see this.
right there with you – I have a 1970 standard beetle I feel like I can drive across the country today and a good bit of parts waiting if needed. I want a second one, just need a bigger garage…
Hi Mike,
Amen!
I am in the slow-motion process (as funds permit) of building a little garage so I have more covered “safe spaces” for vehicles. I cannot abide leaving a classic vehicle outdoors! I have the foundation almost ready. A 20×10 rectangle that’s been leveled out with crusher run and I have most of the rebar work done. It’s just about ready for the concrete – but that’s the expensive part and I have a yuge bill coming due for the EPautos annual hosting that has to come first. But with any luck, I’l be able to do the concrete before spring and the framing stuff is much less expensive!
hi, Eric,
My second motor vehicle was a 1960 VW Type 2, single cab pickup, bought in 1972 for $200. It had a 1966 (1300 cc) engine, and was in running (or maybe “crawling”) condition. The previous owner called it “the Worm,” which seemed appropriate. 🙂
Of course, the engine did not remain 1300 cc for long, once I had it.
Modification, that’s the name of the game…
Never did convert to 12 volts, though.
Tip: always park at the top of hill. 🙂
Cheap transportation for quite a few years, and fun to drive, as modified.
One of my goals, at that time, was to live as cheaply as possible, in order to “contribute” as little as possible to the murderous bastids in District of Criminals and their overseas wars. [Yes, I *was* living in New Mexico. :)]
Ditto all that, Adi!
I have owned two Beetles (one Super) as well as “Squareback” wagon with the Bosch FI system. All were paid for in cash – a few hundred bucks each – which enabled me to not pay hundreds per month for something I could not afford to pay for in cash.
They were cantankerously fun cars, too!
Revenge of the Kraut Can:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDYd4Nlxzx8/?igsh=b3Zndm0wZGZ1OTky
Cyber? Cyber?
Looks like “cyberjunk” to me.
With the 2020 Ford (con) Fusion out of debt thrall, I get hit with “easy credit” offers to get back on that Merry-Go-Round.
NO WAY JOSE. I don’t give a shit how good my FICO score is. Not having $480/month car payments, while but a wee fraction of what I take home, is still nice to SAVE, INVEST, or, if there’s a “target of opportunity “, just PAY CASH for it.
Don’t tell my ex…
The irony of it is, the total environmental impact of the Hilux is less than that of the Tacoma.
First, the Hilux takes fewer resources and less energy to manufacture, particularly in terms of raw material inputs and manufacturing processes, than the Tacoma.
Next, the Hilux uses less fuel, even though it isn’t “compliant.” Those 2.0 L turbo four-bangers actually use a lot more fuel in the real world…you know, going up hills with a loaded bed.
Most importantly, the Hilux will likely last longer because it’s simpler and thus less likely to break, and when it does, it’s easier to fix, and thus it stays on the road longer, so there’s less of a need to buy a new one.
Because we can’t solve our environmental problems by buying stuff because buying stuff is at the root of the problems.
But then, it really isn’t about the environment…
Be careful with a few details. The Hilux Champ exists because the mainstay Hilux has also grown in size, cost and complexity. The Tacoma is derived from the Hilux (not Champ) and if you were to travel overseas you’d be harder pressed to see as much of stark difference in the Hilux (or indeed the Nissan Navaro or Mitsubishi Triton or other truck not sold in the States). That’s not to say they aren’t different, what with being 1 ton (and remember this is a metric ton, so 2,200 American pounds), manual transmissions and diesel engines. But most trucks globally have followed the USA style because people all around the world like creature comforts and are using trucks as daily drivers to a less harsh ride. Another example is the Corolla, which is actually pretty similar in the USA as everywhere, being about as close to a universally global car made in several plants for almost every market Toyota operates. Some details are different, like Americans don’t get manuals. But the regulators in Europe and Asia and everywhere are becoming into homogeny with saaaaafety and emissions rules. Diesel engines are becoming public enemy #1 even here. We’re a decade or so behind you guys but it’s coming here, too. EV everything!
Indeed, Mick –
The question is: Can it be stopped? Can it be reversed? I think it could be. It will just take enough of us to say . . . enough! As happened with the “masks” (and as happened in the past, during Prohibition).
Yes. Rememer alsothat mask compliance was much more readily attainned. Until it wasnt. Holdouts like us amounted to a very small segment of the public. A much larger subset isnt too happy with compliance cars.
It be fookin’ hilarious if someone brought back the Robin three-wheeler.
the HiLux Champ ~$13,000 USD vs. the Chevy Sail… about $14K USD.
Hmm, I wonder why they would be priced so closely? Seems like the Sail shouldn’t be that high.
Anyway, could you imagine the opportunities (low prices!) to get cheap used ones of both If they had been sold in the unitedstate the last 10 – 20 yrs? Why, Zoomers & Millennials might even be interested in getting driver’s licenses at those prices.
Imagine if Ralph Nader was laughed out of the room instead of defied.
What would the world look like today? I remember that old saying about cars, had they progressed at the same rate as semiconductors, that a Rolls Royce would have a top speed of 1000 MPH, get 2000 MPG and cost $1000. Of course cars aren’t built at the subatomic level either. But most of the cars sold in the US today have options packages that would make a Rolls owner of the 1970s envious. They should be much cheaper too, but all those economies of scale were squandered on unnecessary safety.
Instead “safety” is the priority, because of old Ralphie and his crusade to eliminate the American lifestyle. Better to drag everyone down to Cuban-equivalency than admit that communism is worse than anarchy. Waste time and resources on dumbing down technology instead of allowing human flourishing. The Corvair and VW Beatle had a lot of the same issues WRT handling and steering. And the VW was underpowered to an extreme to boot. Why didn’t Ralphie go after VW? Because affordable transportation should be centrally planned, of course. And besides, many of his leftist buddies lived in their VW vans and somehow they managed to not die (at least from car crashes).
‘Then came Harvard Law School [for Nader]. He started reading about automobile safety after seeing car crashes [gasp!] during his travels. He published articles on these topics as a writer and, for a time, editor of the Harvard Law Record.‘ — The Nation article
Hahhhhhvid again! Same school that airhead Jenny Granholm of the Energy Dept. attended. Hahhhhhvid Law grads, who imagine themselves experts on any topic that attracts their magpie interest, have done immense damage to the US.
By the way, in Line 1 you meant ‘deified.’
Good catch. The AI autocorrect needs a little more training, or management, or both.
Imagine growing up knowing that you’re destined for Harvard. Maybe like Ralphie, you earned your way in with your savant-level IQ, or maybe your daddy paid to have a building named after grandad. Either way your task at Harvard is to make sure you get into the right clubs, eat lunch with the right people and make connections. It doesn’t matter what you learn, that’s all just to keep you busy.
The high-IQ people will succeed no matter what they do. Tom Woods, if he had chosen a different path, might have been the world’s best plumber. That’s just the way people like that are wired. When their world view is that they’re somehow better than everyone else, or that it’s their duty to make sure they impose their genius on the rest of us, like some sort of D&D dungeon master, that’s when the whole thing goes bad. And they have their connections to power, making them extremely dangerous.
And look at the result. Did Ralphie go work for Saab, designing safer cars? No, he decided to impose his world view on everyone, misusing the hammer of government, to force us all to live his way. Did it save lives? Probably not, but we’ll never really know. And he got rich and famous along the way.
Was Nader just a paid critic who was given a grand stage to push forward somebody’s agenda?
Ralph Nader is just another demented homosexual who happens to have a law degree. No one would hire him, he’s that much of a misfit. Why anyone gave his screed credence escapes me.
‘The cost of compliance makes it effectively impossible to sell small, basic trucks like the HiLux Champ in this country.’ — eric
Why is this so? Here’s one reason:
‘CAFE footprint requirements mean that a large-footprint vehicle has a lower fuel economy requirement than one with a smaller footprint. For example, the mileage target for a 2012 Honda Fit with a 40 sq ft footprint is 36 MPG. But a Ford F-150 with its footprint of 65–75 sq ft has a mileage target of 22 MPG.’ — Wikipedia
One paragraph explains why we get hulking great pickups with limousine-like wheelbases: because they get a big break on mileage, while being highly profitable. Here’s what this insane rule looks like in graphic terms:
https://tinyurl.com/2kvjeyt6
Plainly, if minimizing fuel consumption were a strategic priority, every vehicle would have the same MPG target. Small vehicles would dominate the fleet. Larger ones would pay a price penalty.
Instead, the twisted result of this corrupt, corporate-gamed, biz-gov collusion and regulatory capture is that $80,000 giant trucks haunt dealer lots, while more fuel-efficient compact trucks aren’t even available. How effed up is that? It’s actually a complete inversion of the original intent of the 1975 CAFE law — the governmental equivalent of a prolific rapist authoring a tome praising chastity.
thanks for pointing this out – the 2005 changes to cafe which incorporated wheel base and axle track in its calculations steered the auto industry toward GIANT trucks in order to be “more efficient”. Good ole GUBMINT
Ford needs to sell $35k Mavericks to make up for the EV losses.
Even if CAFE went back to 38 MPG tomorrow, I doubt that the manufacturers would change their pricing structure or return the V6 and V8 engines to their model lineups.
No, theywouldnt now, but theystill oown the designs and the tooling to build the older stuff. Its not impossible.
We Could Have More For Less — eric
So-called health care accounted for 17.3% of US GDP in 2022. How much grift is that? Japan spends half as much per person, but its people live six years longer:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy-vs-health-expenditure
‘[Luigi Mangione’s] 262-word handwritten document begins with the writer appearing to take responsibility for the murder. It notes that as UnitedHealthcare’s market capitalization has grown, American life expectancy has not.
‘The note condemns companies that “continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it.”’ — NYT
Looks like young Luigi reviewed the same data I did. But assassinating ‘insurer’ executives isn’t going change their deeply-embedded grift.
Nevertheless, tens of thousands of snarky online reactions to Mr Thompson’s tragic death put ‘insurers’ on notice that they are hated and despised by their own customers, just as auto makers are resented for building unaffordable, chip-encrusted bloat wagons.
Auto makers and health ‘insurers’ — two dysfunctional business models that really ought to be liquidated. Of the two, auto makers are easier to terminate, since new vehicles are discretionary purchases. Can pay, won’t pay.
I remember a Mad Magazine comic from years ago. It tracked the growth of a pie stand over a few years. It started out with a kid selling pies in her front yard. Then it was a stand with a sign that read “Mom’s Pies.” Soon the pie stand became a pie shop, then a bakery. All the while the crowd of customers grew. At the end the massive factory’s sign said “Momco, catering to prisons, airlines and other institutions” or words to that effect. The crowds were gone, replaced by trucks (IIRC there was a blind man walking toward the glass and stainless front doors). In the lower corner of the drawing was a small shack selling pies… with a big line of customers.
Eventually companies get tired of trying to sell products to lots of people. Better to sell a lot to a few decision makers, there’s less effort involved. Far less risk of having a New Coke or Bud Light moment too. Ford sells a lot of product to fleets. The sales are nice and easy, the fleet buyer comes up with the list of requirements and options, places an order with a really big number at the bottom, and the sales team gets to crow about that big number as if they actually had anything to do with it. Meanwhile the small dealer in Bedford who sells 15 trucks a month (but only has 30 customers walk in) gets treated like small potatoes by the factory.
This is why health “insurance” is such a nightmare. You don’t choose your healthcare “provider,” your employer does. If you don’t like your health care, quit and go work somewhere else. Except that they have the same healthcare “provider,” just with a different name.
Part of the cost of new cars is the warranty cost. If Joe in LA is getting $25 an hour and Pedro is getting $5 in an hour in Tijuana to repair your car under warranty that might be part of the price difference and we haven’t even started talking about taxes and regulations yet.
Some people feel that the Trump tariffs will help but that’s only if the regulatory climate allows companies to build a plant where it is economical and if people want to work in those plants. From what I’ve read Mexican’s feel they have a good job if they work in a factory and work hard to get and keep that job. Here on the other hand most young people want to be ticktock influencers. Who would you want building your new AC unit or next car?
“Some people feel that the Trump tariffs will help but that’s only if the regulatory climate allows companies to build a plant where it is economical and if people want to work in those plants”
The factories that have left the USA for China are never coming back. There is a huge wage discrepancy between China and USA. Average per hour labor cost in China is about $3 and hour while USA labor cost is about $15 and hour. USA labor is probably higher at about $30 and hour. The USA has priced itself out of the world labor market. Itz a big world and we are probably less than 10% of the world labor population. The USA is disconnected from the world labor market and everything here is predicated on the prices of goods like houses. Can you imagine houses dropping in price by 70%. The whole financial structure here would collapse. Look what happened in 2008. We’ll keep on going forward of course but at a certain time a reckoning will take place. Hopefully it will be a soft crash and not too many people will starve. The price of goods for the most part reflects USA labor costs.
USA labor costs are a fairly small part of product costs, due to productivity. I know of several companies that shipped production to 3rd world countries, then brought it back (or tried to, lots of lost knowledge and good people from that process).
However, the communist US and state governments make it very difficult to work here. Being big, connected, and well bankrolled helps a lot. So called environmental and bureaucratic safety regs, and our blackmailing and corrupt legal system are far bigger impediments to producing here.
Nobody wants dirty air and water, and workers being abused. But we passed those problems decades ago.
Can this situation be remedied?
If Elon and Vivek (these are the names of our saviors?) toss the safety and enviro regs (which should be done) how can the U.S. manufacturers survive the onslaught of foreign made vehicles which could be shipped in immediately? Do they have any Rest-of-the-World cars and trucks they could bring in?
Don’t get me wrong. I think the U.S. car makers have massive self-inflicted wounds in this arena. The “go along to get along” attitude is the basis for their demise. But, that doesn’t employ people in this country with decent, middle-class jobs should the regs be tossed. GovCo interference in all aspects of the economy and our lives has employed the Parasite Class much to the detriment of the rest of us. After all, you can’t just flip a switch and start making solid, basic transportation again and Toyota, et al, seem to already have the global market cornered on such desirable vehicles.
I’m not asking for a utopian solution by any means but, I think things will get far worse for those in these here Untied [sic] States before it gets better.
BTW, pushing EV’s is part and parcel of our new E-Con O’Me. You will own nothing and be happy, Slave. The beatings will continue until morale improves.
Good morning, Mark –
I doubt there is any way to avoid the consequences of the past 50-plus years of rent-seeking/compliance, etc. I think it would be a huge boon, on the other hand, to see the prices of new vehicles fall to just over $10k – which would greatly salve the problems associated with lost jobs and so on. This Champ, for instance, is within reach of people who make $25k or less annually. It would enable a young person just starting out to start a business (contracting, food truck) with. And even if it were just for transportation, $13k beats hell out of $30k. Especially when you factor in the much lower cost of insurance and taxes.
I still daydream about a new 3/4 ton truck –specifically a ’24 GMC Sierra 2500. There’s one at a dealership in town that’s been marked down $8K to $76K.
It’s marketed towards retirees wanting to pull fifth wheel campers. And it’s marketed towards young bucks who think it’ll impress the young ladies. It ain’t marketed towards a bald ol’ fart that wants to pull a gooseneck to/from antique engine shows, I reckon. $76K for an out-of-model-year lot lizard is $25K too much.
No idea what the break even point is for the dealer or GMC. And, I don’t care since I ain’t buying it anytime soon.
Which is another reason why they’ll never be available in the US. There’s this myth that the only way to grow the economy is to grow the population. A sort of alternative to the population bomb is the GDP bust. This is one of the big arguments in favor of “immigration” for example.
Today’s immigrant lives in a government supplied hotel, is taken to work in a 16 passenger van and dropped off at the factory. They work however many hours the company needs them to work, get paid for 8, then shuttled back to the hotel. They’re paid enough to send a little back home and to buy a few bottles of toquilla. They don’t drive (at least not with a license).
Imagine if they could save up a few bucks and buy a late-model used Hi Lux. Maybe go in with their roommates. Now that’s another vehicle on the road. Another source of “air pollution.” Another potential highway killer. And another human that can live a little further away from the factory, maybe even just down the road from the liberal elites that brought them here.
No, better to keep them in their 15 minute cities and 16 passenger vans.
‘There’s this myth that the only way to grow the economy is to grow the population.’ — ReadyKilowatt
GDP can be expressed as working population x productivity. Increase the workforce 1 percent while holding productivity constant, then GDP rises 1 percent also.
This doesn’t mean that we should favor importing low-skilled migrants, as compared to upgrading the productivity of domestic workers.
Of course, the HIAS ringer ‘Mayorkas’ had zero interest in increasing GDP. His twisted motivations were purely ethnic and tribal.
But why does GDP matter? Other than for dick-measuring of course.
It just makes it easier for politicians to take more money. The big boom in the 1990s meant that in theory Clinton and Gingrich balanced the budget. But then when the bubble burst in 2000 it was easy for Bush to cut taxes and create more deficits, and of course 9/11 bloated up the bureaucracy even more making even more deficits. But thanks to the magic of GDP, it didn’t register as a problem.
Now that the big productivity gains that happened by firing all the secretaries and mail clerks have been realized, there’s nothing left to do but add more people. Because the deficit spending never seems to end but only becomes a problem when GDP doesn’t get bigger too.
GDP is a bullshit number designed to show perpetual economic growth regardless of economic realities. GDP is used to obfuscate their theft. The best way to illustrate this is when monetary inflation occurs (i.e. reduction of the buying power of each dollar), GDP magically grows, because it requires more of those dollars to live the same lifestyle as before the inflation. Also, since a component of GDP is government spending, if the government hired 100k men to dig holes and fill them back up (creating absolutely no actual value), GDP will necessary rise. GDP is only a measurement of dollars exchanged, not actual value created.
GDP is to the economy what the PCR test was to “Covid.” They’re both BS “tests” designed to ensure the desired outcome.
So true . . . Not one man in 1000 realizes this.
Correct, Mr. Liberty. The dirtiest of all the dirty little secrets is that GovCo spending is figured in GDP. It makes any actual use of GDP to determine economic health a fool’s errand at best. It’s kinda like losing weight via a tapeworm.
Good stuff Mr. Liberty. We have a motto at our little company. If you want to go or get somewhere, figure out a way to add value. Works in your personal life too.
The PTB need to import more workers to keep the Ponzi scheme known as Social Insecurity from collapsing completely. I’ve been collecting my ‘benefits’ for the past ten years, being 77, but I doubt it will ever add up to the amount taken from me over my working lifetime of fifty years.
The trouble is that dealerships and car makers make their profits out of FINANCING, not sales of products. Margins above manufacturing and distribution go to pay marketing, warranty service, land egal costs. Any actual profit is fine, but not the “profit center”. That lies in INTEREST payments on car loans. Hence why SIX and SEVEN year terms are NORMAL. As well as pushing the pricier rides (“we can get you into the Blatzo Crossover with no money down and easy monthly payments, Mr Peters”) on folks, even when it’s patently too expensive for their finances. As long as those interest payments keep rolling in!
I know that GM has a wonderful, little car for sale in South America: the Chevy Sail. When I was last in Peru in 2018, you could get one for about $14K USD. It was a basic small car, much like the Toyota Corolla of yore. It had a manual tranny. I don’t think it had any airbags; if it did, it just had two. I don’t think you got A/C on it. It was basic, economic transportation-again, much like the Toyota Corolla once was.
That doesn’t account for all the other cars I saw in Peru but weren’t available here. There were Cherys, Geelys, Lifans, BYDs, Great Walls, and other Chinese marques seen down there; they were everywhere. The Chinese built cars were often clones of old Japanese cars; most ofteh, the Chinese cars were based on old Honda or Toyota models. They could be had for a price comparable to the Chevy Sail. Many taxistas had them. While I can’t speak to their long term quality and reliability, they seemed to be good, solid, albeit basic, cars when I and my then GF rode in them.
The Harbor Freight model… sell Chinese junk at super low prices. Not the highest quality, but good enough to get the job done. It could work for vehicles too, if “allowed”.
Honestly, it worked for Henry Ford. Good enough almost always is.
The Model T had the quality where it mattered. It’s puny four-banger flathead, if kept from overheating, would just require the head to be removed, the oil pan dropped, and a quickie “overhaul”, lapping the valves and grinding away any putting in the valve seats, then cleaning the pistons, replacing the rings and rod bearing shells (babbit) and gapping them. then slap it back together, and you were good for another 30K or so miles. About five years worth of driving for most “Tin Lizzie” owners.