why do the japanese save the best cars for themselves??

Question

there are many cars available in japan that is not normally available in other countries. remember the skyline gtr, fto and other models...

Answer 1

All depends on the manufacturer and the money they wish to spend to federalize their vehicles. There's certain criteria that needs to be met, for a vehicle to be sold in the U.S.

Some examples, the Pontiac GTO is a Holden Monaro. In Australia, the front structure of the vehicle must be strong enough (in other words, no frontal crumple zone) to make sure if they hit a kangaroo, the driver/passenger survive.

So for the U.S. market, certain items where improved/added/removed that would meet federal crash standards, and also, emissions standards.

If Nissan would like to sell the Skyline, they are welcomed to, but they must meet standards and a solid business case must be acted out.

It's ironic though how people glamour for the Skyline GTR, yet in Japan I believe you can have any engine you want, just can't exceed the 280HP limit, torque isnt limited though. And yet, they don't really have the roads that would benefit from those vehicles.

Here in the U.S., we have cheap gas, we have all the power possible, yet we glamour for the Autobaun in Germany :-)

Mainly it's a business case that Nissan would have to make. In the early 90s we had the Supra, Rx-7, 300Z, which were the Japanese luxury sport coupes, but soon died out because in those times, they would run in the $40k field.

Mazda was able to reinvent the Rx-8 at attainable price and is making a profit on it. Nissan debuted the 350Z and it's working for them as well at a decent price, so some lessons were learned. But the coupe segment isn't as robust as it used to be, so some automakers are leery.

Answer 2

Why? Cause they wouldn't want to sell cars to the biggest market in the world? They will sell any car they think can sell here. They might sell them locally first until they determine whether or not they will sell in America.

Answer 3

I don't think it's the japanese.. How about the gov. here? It has nothing to do with the japanese..