Camry Pricing

[davetab001]

Hi Guys,

I was having a look at the new Camry Altise when I noticed this:

The price for the Altise is around $30,000 (Base Model)

Whereas, in the USA it is around $19,000 (Base Model)

Our Australian dollar has been very close to the US dollar and has been higher than the US dollar a number of times lately.

Ive also noticed that in the US, the Camrys are more luxurious too.

Whats with the excessive pricing here?

Thanks.

Dave.

[prometheus]

There could be any number of reasons for this.

I think their basic wage is lower ?

They have a bigger market , so more cars sold at a cheaper price.

Lower manufacturing costs ?

[Ozzcaddy]

Depending on where the car was built, import duties. You can almost say that wages in the US are about 1/3rd of Australian wages in certain areas of the work force. Waiters in resturants earn around $3to $4 an hour, so they make up the difference in tips, which is around 15% of the bill for less then 8 people. 8 or more people, the tip is included in the bill. And they work their butt off.

[prometheus]

In the good old US of A , the ugly truth is that you have millions of "working poor" ; people that get paid a pittance per hour and need to work two and three jobs to survive.

[Milgram]

Vehicles are cheaper in the USA, as is a lot of other things like designer clothes, jewellery, etc. A lot of it probably has to do with better economies of scale thanks to a larger population.

In respects to the Camry, it is the top selling medium sized vehicle there and the Toyota USA factories are churning out a lot of these vehicles. The Camry sold close to 328,000 units in the USA in 2010, well down from previous sales figures that were in excess of 400,000.

Toyota Australia would be lucky to sell 20,000 Camrys in a year in the Australian market.

When the Commodore was being exported to the US, the V8 version (the G8 GT) was selling for about $28,000 USD. In Australia, a SS Commodore (with less features) will set you back close to $50,000 AUD.

[Martinj]

Heh! Man, you gotta play the system. I bought my Camry in the US and did a personal import into Australia. I saved $11k on a base model Altise.

To make it better, I shipped over a Commodore SS V8 and sold that car in the US of A for $20k gain! Sweet as, bro!!

Seriously, USA population 250 million (unofficially including illegals maybe 300 million) with a plethora of mid-size cars on sale versus Australia with a population of 20 million and, um, well Mazda 6, Accord, Passat and Camry...

I recommend you also read up about economies of scale and how cost savings per unit can be achieved by increasing production (eg: as in a car factory based in the US of freakin' A).

Oh, and Australia has bombastically high taxes on just about everything and everyone (unless you're on the dole...you better not be on the dole, fella!).

[Ozzcaddy]

Heh! Man, you gotta play the system. I bought my Camry in the US and did a personal import into Australia. I saved $11k on a base model Altise.

To make it better, I shipped over a Commodore SS V8 and sold that car in the US of A for $20k gain! Sweet as, bro!!

Seriously, USA population 250 million (unofficially including illegals maybe 300 million) with a plethora of mid-size cars on sale versus Australia with a population of 20 million and, um, well Mazda 6, Accord, Passat and Camry...

I recommend you also read up about economies of scale and how cost savings per unit can be achieved by increasing production (eg: as in a car factory based in the US of freakin' A).

Oh, and Australia has bombastically high taxes on just about everything and everyone (unless you're on the dole...you better not be on the dole, fella!).

How much did the conversion to RH drive cost? I was in the US for 6 years, had a great Honda Accord, but the cost of conversion to RH drive was way too much to continue on with the thought of importing. I'm talking about registering in NSW.

[Martinj]

Conversion cost the better part of $5k AUD. I did not have to worry about converting the Commobore stateside as I sold it to a Universal Studios who needed an Australian car for one of their sets.

[Noodle Boy]

Doesn't tax pay a large part on the pricings?