Seriously ? It must be the dead of winter and most of you must not be winter sports people .;) have the moderators went into hibernation ?
Has anybody else not notice there inbox filled to the brim with this non-vanagon related redonkadoodle-doo'ness?? 

Thank you
J
Sent from an undisclosed cyber machine

On Jan 20, 2011, at 6:32 PM, Jeff Schwaia <vw.doka@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Ah yes... good old "conspiracy theory".
> 
> Do you really think Toyota wouldn't bring in the Hiace if they believed they
> could make lots of money off it?
> 
> Yeah, right...
> 
> Jeff
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Steven Johnson
> Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 9:09 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Just like a Vanagon, but modern..
> 
> Zoltan's statement still holds true.  Just because Toyota can now afford the
> big bribes like the rest of the US auto companies
> doesn't mean that what he said is wrong....
> 
> Steven
> 
> On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 11:00 AM, Jeff Schwaia <vw.doka@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Not really... there are relatively simple ways for manufacturers to get
>> around the "chicken tax".  The most common is to ship incomplete vehicles
>> and finish the assembly in the USA.  This is not as big of a deal as it
>> sounds.  Look at the Sprinter.  Do you think Dodge (now Mercedes) is
> paying
>> 25% import duty on those vans?  Nope.  They send them as incomplete
> vehicles
>> and then add the final bits (usually made in the USA) before sending them
> on
>> to their dealers.
>> 
>> If Toyota, or any other mfg, believed it was financially viable, they
> would
>> do the same.  As a matter of fact, Toyota was one of the first mfg's to
>> utilize the incomplete vehicle loophole with their small trucks.  They
> would
>> ship them to California without the pickup beds.  The beds were made in
> the
>> USA and attached at a processing plant in California.  Viola!  A Japanese
>> made truck without chicken tax...
>> 
>> Jeff
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
>> HotelWestfalia
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 10:33 AM
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Re: Just like a Vanagon, but modern..
>> 
>> Almost anything that was or is not threatening the US vehicle sales was
>> allowed in with severe restrictions that did not apply to the locals.  We
>> did not get Vanagons with diesel turbo, or with carburetors either.
>> The huge success of the HiAce was a serious threat to the local van
>> manufacturing.  The unions ruled them out.  The local manufacturers
> treated
>> the local market exactly as the drug dealers their own turf.
>> Z
>> 
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "J Stewart" <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
>> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 7:06 AM
>> Subject: Re: Just like a Vanagon, but modern..
>> 
>> 
>>> Still do, if you can call it that, the Sienna. More car like than van,
>>> though. Toyota's first mini van sold in the US (1983?) was cool looking,
>>> it too was Vanagon like only smaller, and even came as a 4X4. Mitsubishi
>>> had a nice looking small van back in the 80's as well.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Jeff Stewart
>>> 
>>> Sorry, left off the link originally. Here it is:
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Hiace. According to this, the Toyota
>>> Hiace came in a camper version. Of course, Toyota sold vans in this
>>> country from long ago. Must be something other than emissions control
>> that
>>> kept these from being marketed here.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> mcneely
>>> 
>>