[black019]

Originally posted by Holyterror
I realise I am replying to a very old post, but it peaked my interest, so here goes...

Believe it or not, we (enthusiasts) who would love nothing more than to see the JDM Skyline, Fairlady, RX-7, and many others come to our shores, are a minority in America. Despite the "import craze" that took hold in the early 90s, there is still a large percentage of people in this country who will not allow anything foreign into their garages. And a lot of the so-called import crowd (full of ricers) is happy with their watered-down Civics and Integras. Japan exports a lot of vehicles to this country, and Japanese companies make a whole lot of cars right here. I am about an hour away from a Honda plant. Nissan is opening a new plant back in my home state next year. I don't think it's isolationism as much as it is consumer trends that keep nice cars out of the States. I can't count the number of times I've heard "No replacement for displacement". Americans, in general, do not like small-displacement turbocharged engines. There is still a sentiment in this country that all small foreign cars are cheap pieces of junk. There was a time when just about anything coming out of Japan was junk. Times have changed, but many people's minds have not.

If you'll remember, we did force Japan to open its ports, and we basically ushered them into the western world. The Japanese people exhibited an incredible tenacity for adapting to their new world order. By World War II, Japan had become an ever-expanding empire, developing it's own war machines and strategies, and succeeding. Of course, we all know they picked a fight with the wrong people, and the rest is history. I don't think there is much bad blood between our nations left over from WWII. Japan rebuilt, and our relationship started over. There are plenty of cultural differences between our countries, but we are good trade partners and, I would say, on quite friendly terms. We don't tax imports to death, and they don't jack prices through the roof either.

So if you need to blame someone, blame your neighbor who wakes you up with his Mustang GT, or the soccer mom bouncing all over the road in her Suburban. They form market trends which manufacturers are forced to conform to in order to stay profitable. Remember, in our country, commerce has more leverage over politics than vice versa. So if you want to know why we don't have any GT-Rs, follow the dollar signs.

I truly could not have said it better myself.