Toyota---Please!!!!

[ssc]

It is some type of torture. Looking for an 80 and anticipating all the PM and issues with a 15 year old rig. Going to Africa and driving past the toyota dealer and seeing brand new cruisers. Knowing that importing is not an option. Toyota, please give us what we want!!
http://www.toyota.com.au/landcruiser-70-series


Regards, Steve

[ssc]

check out the gallery.
http://www.toyota.com.au/landcruiser-70 ... GNLC70GLRY

[Chazz Layne]

I feel the same way about Land Rover. Anywhere else in the world, I could have bought mine with a turbodiesel as a factory option. Over there you can still buy a 130 crew-cab pickup TDI Defender (the only vehicle I'd consider giving up my Disco for).

http://www.landrover.com/gb/en/lr/defen ... y-pick-up/

[sdnative]

When we went to Tahiti, we would always drive past a lot of brand new defenders.

[raYGunn]

Is it Toyota or government regulations stopping our driving happiness? No really, I don't know.

[Chazz Layne]

Is it Toyota or government regulations stopping our driving happiness? No really, I don't know.

1 part FEDGOD, 1 part American Consumers, 1 part Toyota knowing it would not be profitable in a US marketplace.

[smslavin]

I feel the same way about Land Rover. Anywhere else in the world, I could have bought mine with a turbodiesel as a factory option. Over there you can still buy a 130 crew-cab pickup TDI Defender (the only vehicle I'd consider giving up my Disco for).

http://www.landrover.com/gb/en/lr/defen ... y-pick-up/

I've always been a big fan of the 110 but that thing is awesome.

[cruiserlarry]

Is it Toyota or government regulations stopping our driving happiness? No really, I don't know.

Well, a combination actually.

The market for the specialty vehicles we enthusiasts crave is very small relative to total vehicle sales here. Toyota, like most (successful) companies, wants to make a healthy profit. The safety regulations, CAFE fuel standards, and realistic estimated sales volume for these vehicles does not fit in to a profitable business plan - too many major changes required to market the vehicles here, and not enough sales volume and fuel efficiency to make it profitable. So, countries with fewer regulations and safety requirements are no issue, as they become cheaper to manufacture and sell, and they represent a higher relative sales volume.

Regarding diesel powerplants, well, you can thank the gas companies (artificially inflating the price for diesel fuels) and emissions regulations (requiring reduced particulate levels to cut air/ground pollution) for discouraging mass production of smaller diesel engines here. More sophisticated units, like those in the Mercedes / BMW cars, are very clean burning. They sell for quite a premium among already high priced vehicles, to a market share that can afford those prices, so they are worthwhile for their manufacturers to offer in smaller production runs. More utilitarian diesels are not so clean - to make them cleaner would cause a significant rise in the price of the vehicle, again putting a LC or Defender out of range for most of us, and eliminating a profitable market share.

Summary for those who'd rather not read my entire diatribe:

We're screwed !!!

[Dennis David]

Audi sell clean diesels in the US but do Mercedes and BMW?

[cruiserlarry]

Audi sell clean diesels in the US but do Mercedes and BMW?

ALL new automotive diesels sold in the US are "clean" - Mercedes (Blue-Tec) and BMW (Advanced Diesel with BluePerformance) both have ultra-low emissions diesels available in the US this year, along with Audi and VW (same company, really)...Honda has a diesel Accord in the pipeline to replace the Accord Hybrid that didn't do too well...and Volvo is likely to follow very soon as well...

Now, if we could get Toyota, and the American mfgrs to step up with some state of the art diesel performance, the oil-burning 4WD won't be far behind...