Why have they caved? These vehicles aren’t appropriate here.
They probably figured that they can sell trucks but nobody is obligated to buy them. The taxes are on weight and prices for fuel are not compatible with gas guzzlers. The really heavy ones need a different driving license. Also in places the tax exemption for cargo didn’t work anymore.
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Yeah, no thanks.
Yes, no tanks.
RAM pick ups are not type-approved to be sold on the EU market, but are imported under IVA, ostensibly to be sold on a one-off or ‘individual’ basis. Already, the IVA rule, intended for niche uses, is being roundly abused by German and Dutch Type Approval entities, which approve 69% and 30% of RAMs respectively, said T&E. Imports of three other pick-up trucks – the Ford F-150, the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra 1500 – have skyrocketed from 157 in 2019 to approx 1,700 in 2024 [1].
The EU Commission’s proposals to close the IVA loophole tabled in early July are now at risk from an EU-US trade pact which states that the EU and US “intend to accept and provide mutual recognition to each other’s standards” for cars.
And to compete our domestic car industries will probably start making similar models :/
As these vehicles aren’t officially sold in EU by their brands, they don’t enter the pollution calculation of their average fleet. I doubt that they will produce even more similar models adapted to and for the EU market.
One-up it entirely and make a ‘thinner’ pickup truck that does comply with EU roads and usurp the Chrysler dogshit entering your nations.
Let the Germans make it.
Isn’t that just a van?
Make kei trucks popular in Europe.
There is already e.g. the Multicar.
Solicit your vehicle taxing authorities to raise taxes on these huge vehicles so it’s cost prohibitive.
Do they really think US style trucks will sell well in Europe?
Yes I do. Selfishness is not an American only trait.
Too bad. I wish the US had EU and JP sized cars
I mean, selfishness is one thing, but these things literally won’t fit in most parking spaces and even a number of garage spaces.
You can technically buy a bus, too, but most people don’t think it’s practical.
The race to size already happened in Europe once, when 4x4s started getting marketed to scared housewives under the pretense that they were safer, if that sounds familiar. I know a few people who were tempted.
Then they looked into it and got over it pretty quickly.
I’m sure you’d see some (I saw my first local Tesla the other day, the guy had blacked out the badge to avoid having it vandalized). I’m not sure we’re going to see a race towards Europeans as a group buying humongous, impractical, extremely expensive cartoon trucks.
Have you spent the last 10 years under a rock? Everyone drives an SUV nowadays
Everyone is driving compact SUVs or “crossovers”. That’s the biggest segment in Europe, as far as I can tell with some googling. The second biggest is even smaller SUVs.
Admittedly, what I can find also says that big SUVs are growing faster than compact and small SUVs. But still, large SUVs are like 3-5% of the market.
Why the “compact SUV” is a thing when a T-Roc is the exact same size and pretty much the same shape as a Golf GTI is anybody’s guess. I don’t sell cars for a living, you’d have to ask Volkswagen what the difference is supposed to be.
So no, not living under a rock.
My neighborhood is relatively new. Trucks don’t fit in garages here, so they park them on the driveway.
In rural areas, the parking spaces are extra big. In the city? They’ll happily take over half the sidewalk or multiple spaces. Did I mention they leave their metal hitches always installed?
We need to implement a law in the US where size of shadow cast from 8 angles determines your vehicle class and minimum tax. I am an adult. You can barely see my head above the roof of a pickup.
Don’t fit yet. The US is just way ahead of Europe in bulldozing the city to make room for more cars and now oversized trucks. All Europe has to do is start knocking down anything in the way to widen lanes and make bigger parking spots.
Yes, it can happen here if the people let it.
I lived through the same thing in the US and the results are horrifying.
@Eyekaytee @Sunshine Believe me, there are enough Ameriboos here in Europe (especially in positions of power) to make this a real problem if this is allowed to be normalized without some major consumer or other type of backlash.
Yes. Their market is fascist fucks. Look at the political parties.
@Sunshine make them undrivable.
We are already in a situation where they have to stop in the village centers to let people move out of the way for the extra wide load. I do not move. I don’t think anyone should
what in the flying fuck
Why would any auto manufacturer make cars under European safety standards any more if this goes through?
In Europe those over the top insane-looking american “trucks” need heavy goods vehicle license, plus even if it’s light enough for the regular license, it’s still classified as a cargo vehicle which is subject for more tax (either yearly tax or sometimes even road usage tax). People can already buy new “trucks” (even Volkswagen makes one) and import old ones from the US for a long time, but extra tax is not something most want to pay.
The ‘empty’ weight of a Ford F-350 is a bit above 3 tons, so in theory, one could register those with a maximum total mass of 3499 kg and drive them with a regular ‘car’ class B drivers licence.
The smaller F-150 is totally in the range of what can be driven with a class B drivers licence without tricks.
Up to member states means they probably won’t do it, since it’s a matter of national politics and popularity…
The real money is gonna be made from exporting truck nuts.
So as I understand this - which seems to be totally at odds with everyone else commenting - this will actually make it harder for people to drive these things on the road in the EU. Currently you can import those things without them being subject to EU categorisation and safety requirements if it’s a one off (to quote Not Stanley, “I ain’t no serial killer! I killed a bunch of people but they were all one-offs!”) but now these will be categorised and controlled the same as EU vehicles instead, and subject to the same standards for safety, emissions, licensing etc. It’s worth keeping in mind that even in the US these aren’t categorised as cars, so why would they be in the EU? So someone with a car license (normally limited to 3.5T GLW) couldn’t drive one, even if they pinky-swore that they wouldn’t fully load it as is the case at the moment.
The EU has different licenses for cars and trucks? Cool!
I’ve always found it weird that a standard license here lets you drive anything from a teeny tiny SmartCar to an F350 pulling a massive palace-in-wheels, or a near bus-sized motorhome (provided it doesn’t have air brakes and is under 4600kg).
Why would anyone in the EU buy them? They are expensive, maintanance nightmare and in most cities to big to drive comfortably. The only reason I can think of is that you need to compensate for a small dick.
I cannot think of anything else the EU could have done to damage it’s own brand image as this has. It’s clear the EU has it’s own oligarch problem.
it’s clear the EU has it’s own oligarch problem
That is quite the claim to make and calling it “clear”
To quote Wikipedia: <citation needed>
I cannot describe how utterly simple and bountiful it is to search for citations and find them, so for the benefit of avoiding arguing against your complete and utter ignorance, I’ll just assume you and the gang upvoting you are just being the most blatantly facetious people here.
What Europe should do, is ban those anti-social SUVs altogether. And tax the ones already there to a high amount. Say 80%. But offer an incentive to lower that tax to 40%, if they switch to scooters, ebikes, and bikes, and let the car be scrapped and its metals reused for those purposes. They then can get a scooter/ebike or whatever for free, together with 10+ years of warranty.
This will offer a lot more job availability in Europe. That’s only better for the former owners of those roadkillers.
