My wife and I were on a sailing trip in the Virgin Islands last week. We flew into St. John (USVI) and took a ferry over to Tortola (BVI) in order to board our catamaran for a week of island hopping. From the minute you land, it is obvious that the people in the Virgin Islands (both the US and British sides) can buy vehicles that simply are not sold in the USA. Oddly, they drive on the LEFT in the Virgin Islands - same as Jamaica, Bermuda, The Bahamas, etc. -- but the overwhelming majority of vehicles sold are left-hand-drive like in the USA & Canada. Only a few have the steering wheel on the right. Not sure why, but that's how they roll.

I noticed a very cool-looking Mazda pickup truck that was a common vehicle there. I saw several of them of many different vintages. It was the Mazda BT-50, similar in size to a Chevrolet Colorado, Toyota Tacoma or new Ford Ranger. They had left-hand drive (like the USA) for the most part, but I did see one or two that were right-hand-drive. They can be ordered with a big four-cylinder diesel engine, but I am not sure if you can get one with a manual transmission. Apparently, Mazda will not ship them to the USA because of tariffs on foreign trucks that existed since the 1960s.

As is the case with the Toyota Hilux and the "old style" compact Nissan pickup truck with the crew cab that the Germans can buy, they're not sold in the States. I bet they'd sell pretty well here and many buyers would appreciate the ability to have a diesel engine in smaller pickup truck. Do any of you know much about the BT-50 and have you ever driven or ridden in one? The BT-50 really did look pretty cool.

P.S. Here is a link to an article about the BT-50 that we cannot buy:
https://www.autoblog.com/news/mazda-...ns-wont-see-it

 

For the most part it has to do with or ridged emission standards as well we have our own safety test requirements. It really has nothing to do with geopolitics, politics' in general and who is running any particular country. This has been this way in the USA since at least the 1980's that I can remember the big shift in vehicle emissions and safety testing.

And then there is the komunist run (name in fun) state of Kalifornia and its own set of vehcle standards. LOL

I just spent a vacation in Ireland and saw many vehicles there that I wondered how they ever passed a Tennis ball dropped on them at 50 feet. The rental I had was a weird vehcle until our trip I never herd of right hand drive automatic (POS) Dacia Sandero

 

There are myriad vehicles available in 'foreign' markets that we are unable to own in the USA. There are several reasons for that...........from emissions rules to crash standards, parts availability, lack of dealership franchises, tariffs/taxes, consumer preferences, CAFE standards and even auto makers who don't want to undercut their own profit margins. In the case of inexpensive compact pickup trucks, they'd rather you spend thousands more on a big F-150 or Ram than buy something smaller & cheaper.

In the case of the BT-50, tariffs come into play. We can't blame that one on Trump, however, since the "chicken tax" on imported trucks has been in place for six decades now. That was one reason why the old Subaru Brat was shipped with two hard plastic rear-facing seats in the bed. The government considered it to be a "car" so that the heavy tariffs were avoided.

There were many good quality economic vehicles sold to Europeans that we cannot buy in the USA. If we moved more towards a true free market, we'd all save money and have more products available to us. Competition is the best way to ensure the lowest prices and highest quality. It's easy to see why huge corporations will have no problem using the power of government to inhibit potential competitors from entering the market.