OK.  I definitely for it.  Who do we lobby?

Marshall
'84 Vanagon

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of G.M.Bulley
Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2002 3:01 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: A different camper van... MB Marco Polo

What a steal. $54k. The Westfalia Vanagon was about $21k (US) more than
a decade ago, and (no offense, I love my Westy) it was nowhere near as
nice as the Vito Marco Polo.

Can anyone verify the foggy recollection I have: -- the reason we don't
see these nicer European RV's here is that Win-a-bag-o'poo, and the
other US RV manufacturers lobbied congress in 1990 and got stiff (>25%)
tariffs against imported complete RV's? Again to my understanding, VW
couldn't sell against the tariff, and consequently we lost the Vanagon
Westfalia, got the (crappy, IMHO) USA-built 'Rialta', and the
watered-down Westfalia "weekender" Eurovan. Can anyone shore this
recollection up with facts?

What I am getting at: if all of the above is true, then there *could* be
a way to get the Marco Polo here. Follow me.

1.      Daimler/Chrysler now use the same toothbrush.
2.      Westfaliawerke was a subsidiary of Daimler-Benz, assumedly a
subsidiary of D/C now.
3.      D/C opens a very small (30-50-person) Westfaliawerke Fabrik here
in the USA, near a port of entry.
4.      D/C import the RV components for the Vito converted EuroVans,
and supply ther dealer network with spares
5.      D/C imports partial EuroVans (which they are already buying from
VW)
6.      D/C's Westfaliawerke Fabrik ASSEMBLES same here in USA

Bringing ideas to life,
G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com <http://bulley-hewlett.com/>
AIM = IExplain4u
Phone: +1.919.658.1278
"Fax mentis incendium gloria culpum"