Rivian R2 Crossover SUV Conjecture and Renderings (Carscoops)

[COdogman]

Those “seats” were factory installed so the truck would be classified as a passenger vehicle to subvert the “chicken tax” imposed on imported trucks. A couple other brands did this too and once the trucks were imported they would remove the seats.

I didn’t know that! What were the other ”trucks” that did this?

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[Forager1]

I didn’t know that! What were the other ”trucks” that did this?

From Wikipedia:

For example, Ford, which was one of the main beneficiaries of the tax, also evaded it by manufacturing first-generation Transit Connectlight trucks for the US market in Turkey; these Transits were fitted-out as passenger vehicles, which allowed Ford to evade the Chicken tax when the vehicles passed customs in the US. The Transits were stripped pre-sale of their rear seats and seatbelts, at a Ford warehouse near Baltimore.[1] Similarly, to import cargo vans built in Germany, Mercedes disassembled fully-completed vehicles and shipped the components to "a small kit assembly building" in South Carolina, where they were reassembled.[8] The resulting vehicles emerged as locally manufactured, free from the tariff.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

 

[COdogman]

From Wikipedia:

For example, Ford, which was one of the main beneficiaries of the tax, also evaded it by manufacturing first-generation Transit Connectlight trucks for the US market in Turkey; these Transits were fitted-out as passenger vehicles, which allowed Ford to evade the Chicken tax when the vehicles passed customs in the US. The Transits were stripped pre-sale of their rear seats and seatbelts, at a Ford warehouse near Baltimore.[1] Similarly, to import cargo vans built in Germany, Mercedes disassembled fully-completed vehicles and shipped the components to "a small kit assembly building" in South Carolina, where they were reassembled.[8] The resulting vehicles emerged as locally manufactured, free from the tariff.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

I had heard of the chicken tax before but I had no idea of the whole story there. And it deprived us of these!

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