Looks like a smaller version of the Mercedes / Dodge Sprinter, but competing in the same general space.
Posted on 10/03/2009 12:44:33 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
Logic Takes a Back Seat -- and Windows, as Auto Maker Plays Tariff Games
BALTIMORE -- Several times a month, Transit Connect vans from a Ford Motor Co. factory in Turkey roll off a ship here shiny and new, rear side windows gleaming, back seats firmly bolted to the floor.
Their first stop in America is a low-slung, brick warehouse where those same windows, never squeegeed at a gas station, and seats, never touched by human backsides, are promptly ripped out.
The fabric is shredded, the steel parts are broken down, and everything is sent off along with the glass to be recycled.
Why all the fuss and feathers? Blame the "chicken tax."
The seats and windows are but dressing to help Ford navigate the wreckage of a 46-year-old trade spat. In the early 1960s, Europe put high tariffs on imported chicken, taking aim at rising U.S. sales to West Germany. President Johnson retaliated in 1963, in part by targeting German-made Volkswagens with a tax on imports of foreign-made trucks and commercial vans.
The 1960s went the way of love beads and sitar records, but the chicken tax never died. Europe still has a tariff on imports of U.S. chicken, and the U.S. still hits delivery vans imported from overseas with a 25% tariff. American companies have to pay, too, which puts Ford in the weird position of circumventing U.S. trade rules that for years have protected U.S. auto makers' market for trucks.
The company's wiggle room comes from the process of defining a delivery van. Customs officials check a bunch of features to determine whether a vehicle's primary purpose might be to move people instead. Since cargo doesn't need seats with seat belts or to look out the window, those items are on the list.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Just to be fair, has this story EVER played out to the long term?
Generally there is political intervention.
The economic theory of turning America into nothing more than a global market zone would be much more appealing if we saw that actually working somewhere at sometime.
There are security reasons for wanting to keep domestic capability for certain things, though that’s not what is on Bummer’s mind.
GM would never be permitted to do anything so efficient and nefariously capitalistic
America has always been part of the global marketplace, and it has always worked.
That either doesn’t say much, or it’s clearly misleading.
Prior to the income tax, the federal government ran on... you guessed it... TARIFFS
What I said says everything, and isn’t misleading at all.
No.
[[”We thought going through the recycling process was best,” he said. “The steel is valuable.”]]
Obamacare- Soilent Green is people (”We decided not to fix them up but rather that putting htem through a recycling process was best,” he said. “The food value is valuable”
Insanity, but not all that surprising.
Looks like a smaller version of the Mercedes / Dodge Sprinter, but competing in the same general space.
I view this Ford as largely a replacement for the Asrto/safari utility vans made by GM untill a couple of years ago. There are a lot of people who want an enclosed utility vehicle but do not want, or need a full size van.
I wonder how they modify the chickens to circumvent the tariffs in the other direction.
“Here’s an idea — build the vans in the US.”
Ford considers that every year and the bottom line is that it would require a severe reduction in their Econonline production to build it here. There is no reason to canibalize their Econoline production when they are really competing with the Dodge “Dart” (I may be mistaken on the Dodge vehcile name) that is the same type of van.
The fact that Ford can make money building vans in Turkey, shipping them here, and paying someone to strip out stuff, shows that the tax isn’t high enough. ;’)
They don’t have the capacity and tooling in the US. They need a factory tooled to build the Focus platform, and they have just one of those (Wayne, MI). It would be cost prohibitive to bring on an extra shift and pay for all that extra tooling for an unproven vehicle. However, the Michigan Truck and Louisville Assembly plants are being retooled to build vehicles on the Focus platform. IF this remains a hit in the US, expect production to be started at one of those sites.
But don’t expect it if they can only move a couple hundred a month...
If this van is based on the Focus platform, it is way smaller than the older Astro van. It would not be a good replacement if you actually wanted to put “stuff” back there. My Astro van could move a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood inside - I bet this Ford couldn't.
I liked my Astro Van...:^)
A paraphrase of Sodnagel’s Fourth Principle:
“The stupider it is, the more likely that it is required by law.”
I seem to recall a tiny Subaru pickup with two weatherproof “seats” installed in the back, to avoid its importation under the category “pickup.”
(And this time I was actually reading the thread from back to front, and still didn't see the posts about it.)
≤]:^|
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