Politics and Product Tests

We sometimes get asked how we can justify promoting the sales of imported 4x4s and other products, by testing stuff that comes from countries that mightn’t share our Australian values. Our answer is simple: we’re in the product testing business, not the political business.

The most recent comments were made after the well-publicised tariff war begun by the Trump administration in the USA. We were asked by several OTA website visitors whether we’d continue testing ‘Yank Tanks’ after the USA imposed punitive tariffs on some Australia exports to the USA.

Yes, we will continue testing them, just as we continued evaluating Chinese-made vehicles and camping gear after China imposed crippling tariffs on some Australian agricultural products and did a naval tour of the Tasman Sea and the Southern Ocean, around the Australian coastline.

We have very strong opinions about the USA’s politics and foreign affairs policies, and we have equally strong opinions about China’s human rights activities. However, it’s not in our mission to let our personal beliefs get confused with product evaluations. 

Buyers who read our evaluations and then make purchasing decisions may or may not be swayed by their own political beliefs, but it’s not our business to impart our opinions into that buying process.

Another factor is the changing political situation around the world: one-time friends can quickly become competitors, or even enemies.

When Japanese car, truck, 4WD and motorcycle makers were entering the global automotive scene in the 1960s there was still strong anti-Japanese feeling in many Western countries and in China and South East Asia, where many people had vivid memories of Wartime atrocities. That eventually faded and was replaced by today’s attitude to Japan that is generally favourable, globally.

China is still a suspect nation in the view of most Westerners, but there’s no longer any doubt about the quality of its vehicles and China clearly leads the world in vehicle electrification. If you read our reports on the early GWM and LDV utes and wagons, you’ll see that the Chinese were quick to fix issues that we raised. Their quality in 2025 is at least as good as that of traditional brands.

From 1949 until early 2025, the USA was viewed by the West as its protector, but those beliefs have been shattered. If we’d allowed any fondness for Uncle Sam’s alliance to colour our written opinions about Yank utes, we’d have to go back into those stories and replace bullshit with truth. 

We’ll just stick to the truth in the first place, eh?