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" |
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