With the globalisation of the car industry, the herd of cars that are exclusive to one side of the Atlantic is getting thinner, on both sides. The Mustang is now one of these so-called ‘global’ cars – one of the best-selling sportscars in Europe, no less – and the Audi RS6 has finally been federalised. There are more great cars sold in America that we don’t get here, but we still get a few odds and ends that aren’t available in the land of the free. Let’s count some down.
9 cars we get that Americans can’t have
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1. Alpine A110
Ever since its launch in 2017, American car enthusiasts with more refined automotive pallets have been pining for Alpine’s diminutive weight-obsessed sportscar. Quite the opposite of the average pony car, its sub-300PS four-cylinder turbocharged engine is more than enough to feel peppy in a car weighing just over a tonne. Why can’t it go to the US? Well, Renault isn’t exactly established in the US, let alone Alpine. Plus, the aluminium substructure at the front would preclude its federalisation.
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2. Mercedes-AMG One
Here’s one that bites, especially for the very wealthy few who had one on order across the pond. The F1-engined Mercedes-AMG One was initially destined for distribution in the US, until it failed to meet emissions targets. Now, technically, it is forbidden fruit, though most are expected to still be delivered, albeit under the ‘show and display’ rules that make exceptions for non-compliant cars that are significant or special enough. It’s how Pagani Zondas and early Koenigseggs made it over there in spite of not going through US ‘federalisation’, which involves a lot of crash testing at the very least.
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3. Toyota GR Yaris
This one isn’t so much of a loss given the Americans are getting their own Corolla-flavoured slice of the GR pie, but still, we get it and they don’t, so it counts. We are of course talking about the GR Yaris, a bitey little rally refugee with all-wheel drive, broad shoulders, broader hips, 272PS (200kW) and a manual gearbox. The 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine and all-wheel-drive system are as mentioned above, seeing use in the US-spec GR Corolla, but that’s a bigger, more conventional car with a reduced motorsport pedigree.
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4. Noble M600
Ah yes. When it comes to good old-fashioned Kevlar and glue boutique supercars – of which there are vanishingly few these days – America is often the forbidden land, given how much you have to crash cars and muzzle their engines to get them legal for sale in the US. Noble are a producer of such cars, with the carbon-bodied, twin-turbo V8-powered M600 not quite justifying the effort to get it over there, especially in this late stage of its life. A shame, as it ought to appeal, given it looks and feels like a mix between the Ford GT and the Ferrari F40.
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5. Audi RS4 Competition
A tale of woe as old as time, is that of the American car enthusiast bereft of Audi fast wagons. Since the RS2 of the 1990s these fabulously burly performance cars have evaded export and for the most part gotten better – or cooler – with each iteration. The latest RS6 made it over there of course but the current (soon to depart) RS4 never did. It’s the last of the Audi fast wagon forbidden fruit and, in Competition guise, it’s sorely missed given how amazing its manually-adjustable coilover suspension setup is supposed to be.
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6. Suzuki Jimny
Some cars simply wouldn’t suit the American market. Take the Suzuki Jimny for example, a utilitarian machine that shirks everything the Americans love about their utilitarian best-sellers: power, size and weight. Cute and cool, a select few still pine for it but we reckon it’d be lost as soon as it made landfall. We are curious as to whether an entire Jimny would fit in the load bed of an F-350 dually, though…
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7. Honda e
Another one that everyone loves to love but that simply wouldn’t work in the US, is the Honda e. Fantastically retro, cool to be in and pleasant to drive, there are plenty of Americans that feel they’re missing out. They’re not. We’d hazard to guess that the EPA would rate this car as capable of less than 100 miles of range. Its 137-mile range isn’t enough even for the UK. In the expanses of the States, with its sprawling interstates? The Honda e would be lost. Maybe if they swap a K24 into it? Might defeat the point…
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8. Renault Megane RS
There are some cars that America simply doesn’t ‘get’. Hot hatchbacks in general are one of them. Look what happened to the Ford Focus RS and Fiesta ST. The latter didn’t even make it over in its current generation. Both great cars that simply didn’t strike a chord with a big-enough US audience. The same, we can estimate, would be said of the Renault Megane RS. Like the Fords, these get rave reviews here in the UK and a select few American enthusiasts who are privy to the critical acclaim of these cars really want for them. But they’re just that. A select few. The 25-year rule will see a few brought over we’re sure, but US hot hatch enthusiasts really are feeling exactly what us European American muscle fans feel.
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Volkswagen Up! GTI
Finally, the Up! GTI. A fabulous little car that trades on low weight, tiny proportions, a chuckable character and a peppy motor. But it’s three segments lower than the Golf GTI, which most Americans consider to be an entry-level car. The Up! simply wouldn’t work over there, much as a minority want it to try. Again, we’re curious about whether it’d fit in an F-350 load bed.
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