zoom44

Despite the dollar parity that Ash has mentioned, Aussies pay nearly 3 times as much for a car than we do in the US. Neil Dowling of Cars Guide decided to find out why

It basically comes down to volume and taxes.

The United States typically purchases 30 million vehicles per year, while Australia buys around one million.

A Porsche Carrera S would run a U.S. buyer around $88,000. In Australia, that same car costs $282,800. The Australian market Porsche is saddled with a luxury-car tax, import tax and a goods and services tax. Those taxes can also turn a $66,230 U.S.-priced Lexus LS into a $191,200 Australian-priced wallet buster.

You folks down under are paying more IN TAXES(about 100,000 according to Mr. Dowling's report) on that Carrera than we are for the whole thing.

Aussies also see better spec'd versions rather than the lower amount of Standard Equipment we get here.

http://www.carsguide.com.au/site/new...&emlist=Member

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/18/w...urrency-parit/

ASH8

AHHH, My pet Hate with the Australian Auto Industry..

WHERE do I start...

1. We do not Pay more in Taxes....
There is only a 5% Tariff or Import Tax on new cars, however if car is over $57,123 it is classed as a luxury car and has a LCT of 43% (roughly).

2. Normal GST or VAT of 10%..

That is ALL..

So basically all you will pay is a 15% TAX (unless over $57K).

3. The main reason for our high prices Starts WAY back to 1985 (roughly) when the then Left Wing Federal Government decided to Float our Aussie Dollar, it went from a fixed value of approx $0.99 cents to US dollar, to around 70 cents to US Dollar within weeks.

So over the past 25 odd years new cars kept going UP and UP in price, year after year as did ALL imported goods, last few years our dollar has gone as low as 57 cents to Today at parity or higher than the US dollar.!

We have now had a High Dollar for the past 4-5 years, BUT the Greedy Importers have not passed on the Cheaper import Prices!!, bastards.

Televisions, Lawn Mowers everything apart from cars have been dramatically lowered in Retail price by about 30-50%.

So WHY does Mazda and ALL other importers keep their prices high, because they are GREEDY, Because they are not forced to, Because we still have a record sales rate, year after year.

Mazda reduced the 3 by $1000 a few weeks back...BIG DEAL!..

Example, and RX-8 in the USA is about 32K, Australia it is $60K, Japan 33K when converted.

See Any similarity to the present US Economy, Mazda to increase by 25%??

Mazda Parts in the USA have just gone up by around 25%.

Mazurfer

All I know is.............I want a Maloo!!!!!

YaXMaNGTO

The wife and I were throwing around the idea of moving to Australia...
This is interesting information. We've been trying to size up what kind of house we could afford as well. The property are inflated compared to Texas, and we didn't have any drop in value as other states experienced in the real estate market.

I'd be fine rolling in a used domestic, like a Holden, since I know a thing or two about them already. I looked up the prices...

Is this right? A used 2005 5.7L Holden Monaro CV8 with 20,000kms for $45,000 AUS?
That car would be $13,000 to $18,000 US. You've got to be kidding me.

zoom44

HAHAH I knew Ash would chime in to tell us why the whole thing was rubbish. Basically its greedy bastards, right Ash?

ASH8

Yep they sure are..

I have had it straight from MA mouth that they have been asked by MMC who owns MA to maximize profit and send them back to Japan...I wonder why.

$55 mil Net Profit after tax is not bad for only 80,000 cars in a year...

ASH8

You would get one a little less but it is about correct..

You have to remember a few things...minimum wage here is now around $12 hour, most earn $20-30 an hour.

Australia has been Booming for the past 20 years, the GFC did not even send us into recession, we have not had a recession (2 quarters (6 months) of negative growth) since 1991.

House prices, depending on what state, but they are at a High...the bubble will burst one day...it has to.

Unemployment 4.5%
Inflation 3%

Really is relative to what you earn...obviously..

auzoom

We also have the issue of "parallel" import laws that stop you importing a car that is being imported by the Dealers. Effectively stopping competition.

ASH8

I think you can Import the same or similar car as a "Private Buyer", however you have to own/use that car for a period of 12 months before you can Import into Australia, so unless you want to live in another country for a year with said car...for get it.

Knowing the Feds they have probably changed this by now...usually do.

Speed_8

your australian women are hot smoking accents ( on the girls lol, don't want anyone getting any ideas lol )

xexok

You guys think car prices are bad, ask Ash8 about what people have to pay for smokes and alcohol over there. An arm and a leg come to mind. When my aussie friend visited the states he could not believe the cheap prices we had for beer.

Really like Ash8 said it comes down to what people make. I don't know what the US average is but I doubt its $20-30.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Well, compare to some places AUS's cars are not that expensive.

look at Hong Kong, they have a 50-100% tax depends on the car's base price.

Why? they want to control the amount of cars on the road, way too much air pollution in Hong Kong. (hate to say it and I was born there but HK is really a tiny *** place)

but it does not stop people from getting cars there.

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/auto...s-cost-500000/



For Example, a Nissan GT-R cost about 2million HKD in Hong Kong. Thats about roughly 220K in USD. enough to get yourself a small apartment(when I say small, something like 500 sq feet) but you still see GT-Rs running all the place.

when I told my friends that "Ferrari/Porsches are every where in HK" they say Im full of ****. lol ?

Brand new RX-8 cost about 400-500 HKD there, about 60K USD . before applicable tax & fees. and that was about a year something ago when USD's rate is not as sucky as it is now (HKD is hooked to USD, so it goes up/down at the same time)

Now ? cost about 600-700K. and you have a month of wait time, cuz its usually not stock and it has to be "deliver" from Japan.

ASH8

Jackson, that is not the issue mate..

If Hong Kong or any other Countries Government wants to add a 100% Duty or Tax on their imported cars, well that is there business...

THE ISSUE in Australia is we do not have a 100% duty or tax on Imported Cars...

In total it is ONLY 15%, provided car is less than $57,123, which all Mazda's virtually are and most other cars sold here, except MB, Porsche, some BMW's, Ferrari's.

So we Don't have these high taxes, so why are we paying such high prices.

5 Years ago our dollar was worth 57 cents to the US dollar, now it is worth MORE than the US dollar, but we are still paying the same price as 5 years ago.

So importers are making another 43%+ more in profit...or greed.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

I see what ya mean now.

Hmm, I guess they really love your market.

ASH8

Just been a Huge Earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand around city center, during lunchtime!..


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/

zoom44

Just saw it on the news ash.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

wow, that really sucks.

happens during Lunch break ... is that a good thing or bad thing ?

good thing is I think most of the people are out to lunch

but people who bought their own lunch ... *sigh*

Off topic : Do you guys feel that there were so many quakes/floods/tornados for the last 12 months ?

and some people have been talking about Yellow Stone Park, if the thing blows 2/3 of the American will be unsafe to live. kind of scary if you ask me. Government still say its nothing to worry about, but should we even trust them ?