I was thinking the same thing, but didn't want to post because it is the AutoNews forum.

Anyway, performance is pretty big in Japan of course, but probably not all that important anywhere else.

 

I definately agree, but the fact does still remain. if there are no guns no one would get shot. but i really doubt there would ever be no guns in Americe

 

Your right, not shot, but still blugeoned, stabbed, or worse.

 

Perhaps, but making guns illegal is competely different than making all of them magically disappear and preventing criminals (who by definition do not obey the laws) from having or using them.

Back to the topic, doesn't Japan have steadily increasing registration fees for older cars to make an incentive for those that own them to buy newere ones?

 

Just read an article in the Shanghai Times this morning...
Chinese legislators just concluded their 10-day annual session yesterday, and there is a run on SUVs and performance cars hitting for the rest of this month because the government has raised taxes on SUVs and vehicles which are rated as "performance", burn more than XX liters/km, or have engines over 2.8L. The government cited the need to direct oil and fuels into national growth instead of wasting it in heavy and non-economical cars.
New taxations are as high as 12-20% per vehicle.
Hmmmm.... makesyathink, donit?

Guess who they cited as the leading "offenders"...
Hummers... SUVs... Caddys (engine size)...
You can plainly see that this new taxation per vehicle is going to affect the importers more than the domestic names because of engine size as much as anything. Neat how they can use "economic growth" as a tool to levy another tariff on imports. And let's not kid ourselves here guys, it is nothing but a tariff. THIS is the kind of thing I have been trying to describe on this board that keeps true "free trade" from occurring - these boys over here don't play by the rules. They won't levy a tariff against the importing manufacturer directly, they just make the vehicle so high-priced to the buyer that no-one will buy it. Suh-weet.

It's Wednesday night here right now... I hope to get by the car dealerships this coming weekend - take a few hours and really dig in, get some photos, brochures, etc, and maybe ask some questions.

(PS - not going to hijack my own thread, but if you think gun control is a good thing, ask ANY canadian, Australian, Brit, German, Chzech...
Australia has rampant issues with violence since repealing gun rights, and the people are fed up with it. Hitler's main goal was to strip the populous of their arms before beginning his master plan because he knew the public would revolt (and they would have too - the majority of common Germans did not approve of Hitler's rule, but they were defenseless to oust him.

Someone else was right about the issue in Japan - it's more of a cultural issue than one of humanity as a whole.)