How US chickens led to Japanese truck plants - Automotive News
President Lyndon Johnson fired back, imposing a 25 percent tariff on imported brandy, dextrin, potato starch and light trucks. Trucks were included to target Volkswagen, the only automaker importing pickups into the United States. Indeed, Toyota launched its first U. S. manufacturing operation as a way to avoid the "chicken tax. , metal fabricator to make truck beds for its Hilux pickup. The plan was to install the U. S. -built bed after the Hilux chassis cabs -- chassis with a cab and powertrain installed, but no bed -- were imported through the port of Long Beach. Importing the bedless Hilux allowed Toyota to pay a more tolerable 4 percent import tariff. , eventually became a critical manufacturing unit for Toyota in North America. It manufactured catalytic converters and launched assembly operations, including Toyota's first truck assembly line at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. , in 1989 before full production of the Hilux in 1991. By then, the Hilux was known as the Toyota compact pickup. Other Japanese automakers used similar strategies to avoid the chicken tax and get a foothold in the U. S. truck market. Source: www.autonews.com
