It’s interesting how many interesting vehicles there are we’re not allowed to buy if we’re interested in them. Two of them are made by Toyota. One is the little HiLux Champ pickup, which is something akin to the original small Japanese pick-ups that we were allowed to buy back in the ’60s and ’70s, such as the Datsun 220 (which led to the 520/620) and the Stout, which was the first small truck Toyota was allowed to sell here.
Another is the LandCruiser 79 series, which Toyota sells in many other markets – but isn’t allowed to sell here. Unlike the HiLux Champ, the LandCruiser isn’t small. It’s a mid-sized pick-up available in both regular and crew cab configurations, with either a short or long bed. It is sturdily built (body on frame) and specifically designed to be as tough and durable and owner-repairable as possible. “Confidence in remote areas depends on simplicity. The LC79 minimizes complex electronic components, favoring proven mechanical systems. Its V8 diesel engine delivers maximum torque at low RPM – essential for heavy towing and off-road performance.”
Now you know why we’re not allowed to buy it.
The LC79 not only comes standard with a 2.8 liter (four cylinder) turbo-diesel – paired with a five speed manual transmission – it offers a 4.5 liter turbodiesel V8, also paired with a five speed manual as well as a gas V6. Nothing we’re allowed to buy in this country offers any of these choices – with the exception of the current Dodge Durango (which is an SUV) that still comes standard with a V6 – and the Jeep Wrangler, which is still available with a V6 and a manual. However, we’re not going to be allowed to buy either of those after the end of this year. Dodge is not going to offer the V6 in the Durango for 2027 and the Jeep Wrangler will henceforth be automatic, ony – like the rest of the vehicles in the Jeep inventory we’re allowed to buy.
The combination of a diesel engine and a manual transmission hasn’t been available in a light truck or even a heavy truck this country in a very long time. Why? The usual reason given is that diesel engines and manual transmissions constitute an obstacle to compliance with the regulatory regime. Specifically, diesel engines are tough to “certify” – this is government-ese – as compliant with federal emissions standards, while manual transmissions are too variable to be easily made compliant. Automatics are programmable. Manuals are not. So, car manufacturers – who have to comply – toss non-compliant drivetrains as well as drivetrains that are more difficult to achieve compliance with.
The interesting thing is, these drivetrains do comply with the rigmarole in other countries that are not Third World countries. Brits are allowed to buy the LC79; so are the Aussies. The Germans, too. Their regulatory rigmarole is certainly not lax. It is of course different – and it does present a problem for the car companies to have to deal with multiple different regulatory regimes. This, as an aside, is why almost every car sold in the United State has always-on headlights – Daytime Running Lamps. It is not because there is a lack of daylight in the United States. It is because there is a Canadian law mandating DRLs. Rather than build DRL-equipped cars for the Canadian market and non-DRL-equipped cars for the American market, big car companies that sell a lot of cars in both markets such as GM and Ford decided to save some compliance-cost money and build all their cars compliant with Canada’s DRL rigmarole. That’s why almost every car you see has its lights on in broad daylight. If you’re old enough to remember the Before Time – this being before the ’90s, when the DRL thing became a thing – you can remember when the only cars that had their headlights on in the daytime in this country were those in a funeral procession or driven by people who forgot to turn them off. You could easily pick out funeral processions, motorcycles and cop cars. Now they all blend into the same visual clutter, making it harder to see them.
So what’s the real reason why we’re not allowed to buy diesel-powered (and rugged and simple and owner-repairable) vehicles like the LC79 and the HiLux Champ as well as numerous others like them made by pretty much every major vehicle manufacturer? It is because the powers-that-be do not want us to have them, of course. Such vehicles run contrary to the plan to herd us all into vehicles designed not to be simple and owner repairable; that maximize complex electronic components, disfavoring proven mechanical systems.
Why? Because that keeps people buying – financing – something new (and so under warranty) every six years rather than buying once every 15 years or even longer than that. It is another grift, in other words. “Emissions” and “safety” compliance are just the excuses given to keep the rubes quiescent. (If you need proof of that, note how all of a sudden the massive “emissions” – of data centers – somehow isn’t of much “concern” all of a sudden.)
Trump could do something about this – if he wanted to do something about it. Not necessarily by edict but via explanation. He could make a big whoop about how Americans aren’t allowed to buy vehicles like the LC79 and the HiLux Champ and countless others (including the Tiny Cars he talked about but no longer says anything about). If the public were made aware of what they’re not allowed to buy, there would be a wave of outrage that could wash away the “emissions” and “safety” excuses and then we’d be allowed to buy interesting vehicles like the LC79 and HiLux Champ.
Don’t count on it, though.
Tump is as likely to engage on this issue as it’s likely we’re all going to get a $5k check after the midterms.
. . .
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