EU cave in on vehicle trade rules will cost European lives as US pick-up trucks flood into Europe
Pedestrians, cyclists and drivers are at increased risk as the rapid rise in monster US pick-up trucks on Europe’s roads is set to accelerate after the…
It'll be especially dangerous since they're gonna have slashed tires so often.
I can't wait to see one get stuck trying to fit past my house. I can assure you my brick wall is cheaper to stack back up than your bodywork is to replace.
we can only hope
Maybe burning the trucks will help with the tyre thing? It's a long shot but I think it should be tried...
Yeah, no thanks.
lol and that’s one of the smaller truck models you’ll see in the states 🫠
Yep a real full size truck you could probably take that car and put it in it its bed. With room to spare.
Yes, no tanks.
Why have they caved? These vehicles aren’t appropriate here.
As someone from the US, they're mostly not appropriate here either. They rarely get used for anything except driving to/from work. They are more like massive uneconomical vans with four luxury seats rather than work trucks (again, when they nearly always have a driver and no passengers).
That being said, my fiancé lives in the Philippines (Specifically in Manila, the most densely populated city on the planet), and every time I visit it's clear the same stupid oversized trucks are everywhere and I doubt anywhere in the EU will be different.
Just like requiring seatbelts to be a rule, you need to put rules in place so the idiots don't destroy everything, that's pretty much advanced modern society.
Yeah there are a fuckton of "real men" in Europe, influenced by the firehose of toxic culture coming from the US. I agree 100%, governments need to prevent selfish idiots from endangering others with their bad choices.
Pavement princesses.
They probably figured that they can sell trucks but nobody is obligated to buy them. The taxes are on weight and prices for fuel are not compatible with gas guzzlers. The really heavy ones need a different driving license. Also in places the tax exemption for cargo didn't work anymore.
Man I sure do love when people with money can pay to inconvenience everyone else
these vehicles arent appropriate anywhere. the EU caved because it's not sovereign, it does as it's told.
EU works for lobbies. Not Europeans.
cause they are us vassals. chinese evs would have worked much better.
These vehicles are not really made for European infrastructure. Especially in older Cities or towns they are sometimes wider than the road itself. I guess it would be fine if people would have to have a C-Class license.
But have you considered bulldozing all the historic architecture to accommodate American manufacturers' god given right to sell product?
Knowing what lurks underneath old cities the demand for archeologist would absolutely skyrocket.
Great job creation prospects.
And then we get to queue in cars to get coffee. So convenient.
It's just wins all around
RAM pick ups are not type-approved to be sold on the EU market, but are imported under IVA, ostensibly to be sold on a one-off or ‘individual’ basis. Already, the IVA rule, intended for niche uses, is being roundly abused by German and Dutch Type Approval entities, which approve 69% and 30% of RAMs respectively, said T&E. Imports of three other pick-up trucks – the Ford F-150, the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra 1500 – have skyrocketed from 157 in 2019 to approx 1,700 in 2024 [1].
The EU Commission’s proposals to close the IVA loophole tabled in early July are now at risk from an EU-US trade pact which states that the EU and US “intend to accept and provide mutual recognition to each other’s standards” for cars.
And to compete our domestic car industries will probably start making similar models :/
As these vehicles aren't officially sold in EU by their brands, they don't enter the pollution calculation of their average fleet. I doubt that they will produce even more similar models adapted to and for the EU market.
Solicit your vehicle taxing authorities to raise taxes on these huge vehicles so it's cost prohibitive.
Hopefully insurance will be prohibitively expensive as well where there so dangerous.
In the netherlands road tax is paid depending on the weight of the vehicle (and some more factors). Also, a standard drivers license B is for cars with maximum weight 3500kg (unladen weight plus payload).
Do they really think US style trucks will sell well in Europe?
Yes I do. Selfishness is not an American only trait.
Too bad. I wish the US had EU and JP sized cars
I mean, selfishness is one thing, but these things literally won't fit in most parking spaces and even a number of garage spaces.
You can technically buy a bus, too, but most people don't think it's practical.
The race to size already happened in Europe once, when 4x4s started getting marketed to scared housewives under the pretense that they were safer, if that sounds familiar. I know a few people who were tempted.
Then they looked into it and got over it pretty quickly.
I'm sure you'd see some (I saw my first local Tesla the other day, the guy had blacked out the badge to avoid having it vandalized). I'm not sure we're going to see a race towards Europeans as a group buying humongous, impractical, extremely expensive cartoon trucks.
@Eyekaytee @Sunshine Believe me, there are enough Ameriboos here in Europe (especially in positions of power) to make this a real problem if this is allowed to be normalized without some major consumer or other type of backlash.
Yes. Their market is fascist fucks. Look at the political parties.
what in the flying fuck
Why would any auto manufacturer make cars under European safety standards any more if this goes through?
@Sunshine make them undrivable.
We are already in a situation where they have to stop in the village centers to let people move out of the way for the extra wide load. I do not move. I don't think anyone should
In Europe those over the top insane-looking american "trucks" need heavy goods vehicle license, plus even if it's light enough for the regular license, it's still classified as a cargo vehicle which is subject for more tax (either yearly tax or sometimes even road usage tax). People can already buy new "trucks" (even Volkswagen makes one) and import old ones from the US for a long time, but extra tax is not something most want to pay.
The 'empty' weight of a Ford F-350 is a bit above 3 tons, so in theory, one could register those with a maximum total mass of 3499 kg and drive them with a regular 'car' class B drivers licence.
The smaller F-150 is totally in the range of what can be driven with a class B drivers licence without tricks.
Up to member states means they probably won't do it, since it's a matter of national politics and popularity...
So as I understand this - which seems to be totally at odds with everyone else commenting - this will actually make it harder for people to drive these things on the road in the EU. Currently you can import those things without them being subject to EU categorisation and safety requirements if it's a one off (to quote Not Stanley, "I ain't no serial killer! I killed a bunch of people but they were all one-offs!") but now these will be categorised and controlled the same as EU vehicles instead, and subject to the same standards for safety, emissions, licensing etc. It's worth keeping in mind that even in the US these aren't categorised as cars, so why would they be in the EU? So someone with a car license (normally limited to 3.5T GLW) couldn't drive one, even if they pinky-swore that they wouldn't fully load it as is the case at the moment.
The EU has different licenses for cars and trucks? Cool!
I've always found it weird that a standard license here lets you drive anything from a teeny tiny SmartCar to an F350 pulling a massive palace-in-wheels, or a near bus-sized motorhome (provided it doesn't have air brakes and is under 4600kg).
One L, after another. Oh, EU...
Well, people first need to want to buy these things. When they realize they are unable to park those things properly, due to our infrasturcture not being made for them, they will return them back.
People in the NL already buy them, despite there being no way to park them.
You need like 10 idiots in a million-large city and you can already feel it have a negative effect on traffic.
Or they park in the most obnoxious places. I once saw a father waiting to pick up his kid in one, with 2 wheels on the pavement and his engine idling. This was in the eu and it had a typical macho pickup configuration: all black, spotless, tinted windows. I'd prefer it if those dickheads continued driving bmw's instead of pickups, much less annoying when they're tailgating you.
The people who buy this will feel fantastic about parking them like assholes in a way that it bothers people.
Unfortunately, no, you give people too much credit. It's a status symbol to assholes, and assholes beget assholes. People need to treat them like Teslas were during the DOGE debacle.
People will buy it despite infrastructure not being built for it. And they they will demand that the infrastructure accommodates them. And then they will build new infrastructure taking them into account. And then they'll rebuild the old infrastructure to accommodate them.
There are idiots in Europe too. There are oversized American trucks in Europe too. And they too occupy 4 parking slots if they are European sized instead of America sized.
hopefully also when people treat them and their stupid big vehicles appropriately like shit
The real money is gonna be made from exporting truck nuts.
I cannot think of anything else the EU could have done to damage it's own brand image as this has. It's clear the EU has it's own oligarch problem.
it's clear the EU has it's own oligarch problem
That is quite the claim to make and calling it "clear"
To quote Wikipedia:
<citation needed>
I cannot describe how utterly simple and bountiful it is to search for citations and find them, so for the benefit of avoiding arguing against your complete and utter ignorance, I'll just assume you and the gang upvoting you are just being the most blatantly facetious people here.
Why would anyone in the EU buy them? They are expensive, maintanance nightmare and in most cities to big to drive comfortably. The only reason I can think of is that you need to compensate for a small dick.
Ibrahimovich.jpg:
I give you defense protection
In return, you give me your lives to American pickup trucks.
This is going to be unpopular opinion, but the EU caving in so quickly to one-sided trade deal, is in return for American protection and arms contracts. With Cheetos in chief in charge, this is the Munich Agreement of our time to bide time, while European arms production gears up. Let's face it, the EU is too weak and reliant to achieve strategic autonomy at the moment, if ever. Several EU members don't even want to increase military spending, because they very well know that this will take away precious funding away from coveted welfare investment, and that will be unpopular for electorates.
Let’s face it, the EU is too weak and reliant to achieve strategic autonomy at the moment.
Many people say this but it doesn't really made sense to me, if Russia can't even win against Ukraine how would they ever fight against the EU, our army is both larger and much better equipped then Ukraine.
And it doesn't look like there is a ceasfire going to be soon so Ukraine will keep fighting which means Russia doesn't even have the troops outside Ukraine to invade the EU, and if they somehow did then we would reach Moscow by next month.
(...) if Russia can't even win against Ukraine how would they ever fight against the EU, our army is both larger and much better equipped then Ukraine.
The problem is, the EU isn't united nearly enough to fight a war together. If, for instance, Russia attacks, it'll be mostly Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia defending. Maybe Romania too, and maybe with some support from the rest of the EU. As it stands right now, the EU is divided on many issues, with some countries (notably Hungary) intentionally sabotaging it from the inside.
Even if - and that's a big if - all or at least most of EU member states can come to agreement and cooperate in a conflict, our militaries aren't very well prepared to work together. This would require years of cross-border military drills between all of the member states. Especially considering the fact that the vast majority of all EU soldiers have never seen any real combat. Russia may be losing a lot of soldiers in Ukraine. But those who survive become extremely valuable assets for the military, since real world combat experience is infinitely more useful than textbooks or casual training exercises.
if Russia can't even win against Ukraine how would they ever fight against the EU, our army is both larger and much better equipped then Ukraine
Yes, if Russia invades EU then all gloves are off. But in the more immediate and near term this is about military production, which Russia is in full production capacity while the West as a whole is kind of just tip toeing. The former is already outproducing the latter in artillery munitions by a wide margin. The EU produces even less than the US in military. Even though the EU became the biggest aid sponsor of Ukraine, much of that aid is non-lethal forms like finances, food and logistics. The US still provide the biggest military help to Ukraine.
Even if there is a war between EU and Russia, fact of the matter is that Russia already has the initial military production advantage over the EU, because the EU downsized and underestimated Russia's plan of aggression for years.
I think what the EU-US trade deal was about is outsourcing the military production to US, while the EU ramps up their own. After all, the key message from that deal is that the EU will invest in US military production.
EU is being turned into economic colony of the US and China.
EU can't even handle russia in its own back yard.
Recently they tried to shove some green energy reporting requirements on energy companies... Literalyl ex Uk colony qatar, send a letter and told to shut it down.
EU tucked their dicks and did as they are told.
Pathetic.
RAM < Dodge < Stellantis NV
It’s not even a US company lobbying for this.
Honestly they're great to drive and can often tow over 10k kilos. Not for everyone but maybe zone them out of downtowns or something. The US has more rural roads than city roads. Unimproved dirt roads and towing heavy loads are what they were made for, not trying to squeeze into a parking spot in the altstadt.
Way too heavy. Not allowed with standard drivers license in civilized countries.
Where I come from, being civilized includes not smugly degrading people simply for having different regulations. You have your rules, they work for you where you are.
Roads and drivers are a little different here, and you can tow ten tons with a one ton truck pretty easily anywhere but in the city. Very little of this country is city. Getting everything set up correctly is pretty expensive so most people don't want to have expensive repairs and learn how to do it right.
as someone with their heavy goods, 10 ton behind a pickup is terrifying
That's why the big trucks are so big.
Yeah, you are never going to convince lemmings that they have a place. They have a niche and in that niche they are excellent.
I know a guy who has a industrial flooring business (epoxy coatings, grinding, etc) and he has a big fuckoff american truck. Because he lives in it 9 hours a day and tows around a trailer with ALL his work supplies and still has to pick the kids up from school and take them to sports on the weekends. Its one vehicle, it does it all and most importantly because its signwritten and its his work vehicle its 100% tax deductable.