28% Of Car Lovers Most Want To Own This Banned Vehicle - SlashGear Survey
Every new vehicle that is sold in the U.S. must meet the requirements stipulated in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards — otherwise known as FMVSS. Because of the strict FMVSS regulations, a lot of vehicles that are popular in foreign markets were banned in the U.S. domestic market. For instance, the Land Rover Defender was locked out of the U.S. because it didn't have airbags. Other popular cars such as the Lamborghini Diablo Strosek, Nissan Skyline GT-R, Aston Martin Virage, and Alfa Romeo 8C were also banned in the U.S. domestic market.
However, you can import a vehicle that was not sold in U.S. dealerships when it was a brand-new model. The catch is, you have to wait 25 years after a banned vehicle was produced before you can import it. Alternatively, if you're not patient enough to wait 25 years to import your dream car, you can invoke the show or display clause under certain exemptions. Whether you're patient or not, there are plenty of cars banned in America that most people would love to own. But which is the most wanted banned vehicle that most car enthusiasts would import given the chance? The best way to find out is to do a survey, and so we did.
Most people would love to own a Lamborghini Diablo Strosek
In a SlashGear poll with 590 U.S. respondents, 27.97% said they would love to own Lamborghini Diablo Strosek. The Italian supercar is not street legal in the U.S. because it's too fast. If pushed to the limit, the Lamborghini Diablo can exceed 200 mph — this made it the fastest car when it was released in 1990. But it was a German designer known as Vittorio Strosek who modified it and made it even more difficult for it to pass the FMVSS regulations. Because of the 25-year rule, you're only allowed to import a Lamborghini Diablo that was produced between 1990 to 1997.
The second most popular option in the poll was the Porsche 959, which was picked by 25.25% of the respondents. Just like Lamborghini Diablo, Porsche 959 is super-fast but it doesn't exceed 200 mph — the best it can do is 198 mph in the Sport variant. However, the real reason Porsche 959 was never sold in the U.S. is that the automaker didn't want to have its very expensive cars crash tested by NHTSA. Despite the Porsche 959 quickly selling out after it was released, the manufacturer was making a loss selling the car — and if NHTSA crash tested a minimum of four cars, it would have lost more money.
Besides that, 19.83% of the participants said they would prefer Honda ATC and 16.95% wanted Nissan GT-R Skyline. The Smart Crossblade was the least popular option at 10%.