Can you import a leon cupra r into the US?

[fohsman]

I want a cupra r, but i live in the us and don't know if it is possible to import one. Does anyone have any information on this or have one themselves? thanks

[Jimster]

Well, since the Golf/Jetta are on sale in the US, I'm not too sure if it will meet impact standard laws or not- most likely the latter meaning- they would have to crash it

[Deakins]

You can smuggle one in from Mexico

[weeman]

Yep mexico it is.








The friendlist SEAT site and everything VAG in the world

http://www.seatenthusiasts.co.uk/forum

[Ran]

try it.........

[Stefanel1]

Sometimes it's not so difficult to import a car. I see quite often cars very unknown and not sold in Europe (Acura, Plymouth, Dodge, GMC, etc.) which have at the beginning plates from the USA and then plates of France, the differences are not big : a rear anti-mist light or some little things like that. I don't know for the USA but it might not be more hard.
And regarding the crash tests, the EuroNcap tests are more reliable than American crash tests.

[Hudson]

Bringing a car into the US is much more difficult than bringing a car to the EU. Many more regulations and many more hoops to jump through.

[Stefanel1]

What do you want, when the USA will be a democratic and capitalistic country (not protectionnist), it'll be a good thing !

[Hudson]

It's not protection against competition...it's protection against unsafe or polluting vehicles. In order to bring a car into the US (for anyone other than the manufacturer), you must prove that it passes certain safety and emissions regulations. I'd rather have clean air than have every car built in the world on US roads....as much as I'd like to have every car on the road available in the States...

[Stefanel1]

it's protectionnism. i'm sorry. Indeed, why do the EU accept many cars (from the US for example) and not the USA ? !!
A current car produced in Europe is often more safety and polutes less than a current american car. Let's compare a C Class II and a Chrysler Cirrus for the crash tests ! Or an Espace IV and a Town & Country ! Which one is the safetyer ? heum. And regarding the pollution, Europeans norms are harder than american's.

[db6]

This thread is degenerating...Stef, you are not entirely right, anf hudson you neither. As a start, I am sure that most of the cars on sale today do not pollute so much anymore. Rules are strict both in the US and in the EU. Which has the strictest can be researched by either of you if you have enough time to spare, but don't go into silly comparisons!

[Stefanel1]

But I just noticed many cars from the USA (with plates from there) geting French plates (it must be the same in the other countries of th EU).... I never saw a Peugeot, a Seat or a Lancia in the USA.... That's all

[db6]

Many people import cars from the US, and many American expats import their own cars over to the EU. It is unlikely that you will see any Lancias in the US, because you don't see many in europe neither! (look at their sales figures...) As far as I understand, importing a new car into the US is not very simple, and perhaps expensive, but to say it is due to protectionist measures...I don't know. Mybe there simply is no market for Seats and Peugeots in the US!

[Stefanel1]

No market for Seat, I don't know. But there is one for Alfa and Peugeot of course !!! that's why they will come bask in the USA as 2007 for Alfa and certainly 2008 for Peugeot. I know that Lancia don't sell a lot of cars, but you understood what I said, I mean some people working in the USA but who were living in Europa before had maybe a Lancia (or a Renault or an Alfa, or whatever) and went in the USA with their own car.. but I never saw that. Though from the USA to the EU, it exists (even cars sold in France like Passat, V70, etc. but in the US specs).
I think it's due to protectionnist measures, otherwise, howdo you explain that ? (there are about the same proportion of people Europeans working in the USA than the contrary ).

[Hudson]

Originally posted by Stefanel1
No market for Seat, I don't know. But there is one for Alfa and Peugeot of course !!! that's why they will come bask in the USA as 2007 for Alfa and certainly 2008 for Peugeot. I know that Lancia don't sell a lot of cars, but you understood what I said, I mean some people working in the USA but who were living in Europa before had maybe a Lancia (or a Renault or an Alfa, or whatever) and went in the USA with their own car.. but I never saw that. Though from the USA to the EU, it exists (even cars sold in France like Passat, V70, etc. but in the US specs).
I think it's due to protectionnist measures, otherwise, howdo you explain that ? (there are about the same proportion of people Europeans working in the USA than the contrary ).

Stef:

You post quite often on here and I'm sure you know cars from your region of the world. But there isn't much call for Peugeots or Alfa Romeos in the US...atleast not the ones they offered us a decade ago. If there was a burning market for them, they wouldn't have left in the first place. The final years of Alfa Romeo and Peugeot in the US, they each had trouble selling 5,000 units over 12 months. As the saying goes, Ford loses more Tauruses falling off the back of trucks than that.

There is NO certainty that Peugeot is coming back to the US in 2008...or before the next decade. PSA might like to re-enter the market, but they're not prepared for a 2008 return. If you can find me proof to the contrary, I'll gladly apologize to you. And Alfa's return has been delayed (yet again) until 2008.

Just because you bought a car while living in Europe doesn't mean you can bring it back to the States. Before the gray market laws were changed in the late 1980s, an individual was allowed to bring ONE vehicle into the country in their lifetime. That is no longer the case and each imported vehicle must meet the US regulations.

And Just because in EU crash tests the Espace fares better than the Voyager, doesn't mean the Espace is safer. In US tests, the Espace wouldn't fare as well.

European emissions regulations are not more stringent than US regulations. Emissions laws in the US require much more than just measuring the amount of exhaust gases. Certain parts need to be warranteed for 5 years or more in addition to requiring computer changes and the like.

Dual front airbags are not required on EU vehicles. As far as I know, OBD-II is unique to North America. With more and more US-spec vehicles being tested on the EU-style offset crash tests, the US-market vehicles will be more rounded in their crashability than their EU-counterparts.

Db6: You're entirely correct that modern cars "do not pollute so much anymore." The numbers I've heard have current US-spec vehicles producing 1% of the emissions their counterparts did only 30 years ago. This only means the bar has moved. All petroleum powered vehicles pollute and everyone should continue to reduce these emissions. US emissions laws require that cars not only have low emissions from the factory, but they continue to have low emissions for their reasonable lifespan. THIS is where the EU and US diverge.

Again, I would love to have TVRs and SEATs and Lancias and various other vehicles offered in the US. I also want them to be offered at our level of specifications. It's not protectionism...it's creating a standard.