Beginning in the 1970s, the Japanese car as a whole became increasingly popular in the US for a multitude of reasons. One of the largest was the Gas Crisis that gripped the US during the decade. The first occurred in 1973, and the second happened around 1978. Because gas was so expensive and the majority of US automobiles had large-displacement V8s that weren’t fuel-efficient by any stretch, the smaller, more economical Japanese cars experienced a surge in popularity.
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