Well, it's partly due to inability to honor any real Euro NCAP standards vs sending a boat load of cars over to the US just to be slammed into walls.
But, US consumers are are also to "blame" by not in reality wanting anything to do with these cars.
Example:
The cheapest AWD Yetis' are around £19,000, or nearly 30K in USD. This is for an SUV with 110HP. That is before importation, taxes, and whatever federalization costs. Assuming for a second that we have a wizard that can transform them into LHD cars, and conform to all us emissions with no price increase so we can have them for $30k.
:dumb: :dumb:
Who on CR would buy a Small SUV with 110HP for 30K that consumes Diesel which is $1 more than gas?
Probably nobody, seeing as you can get a variety of small SUV's here from Kia, Hyundai, even GMC that get 30-32mpg and run on $1 a gallon cheaper gasoline. Cost, $8-10K cheaper than our "Wizard Provided" Yeti. Factor in real-life costs of bringing that car over here and it would be at least 10-15K more than your Kia Sportage, be slower and suckier at everything and you see why they don't exist.