What am I missing here...

[deeveus 81]

Out of curiosity I priced a few cars in NZ New and New in the U.K.

Audi R8 Coupe sold new in NZ is 336k vs 165k (converted) if purchased from the U.K new

Porsche 911 S sold new in NZ is 254k NZD and 154k NZD (converted) if purchased from the U.K new

BMW 535d M Sport sold new in NZ is 157k NZD and 90k NZD (converted if purchased from the U.K new

What taxes / hidden charges do the British have to pay?

[my_e36 43]

Pretty sure we get more toys standard compare to UK. Plus UK is a huge market with lots of competition helps keep the price down.

[deeveus 81]

Pretty sure we get more toys standard compare to UK. Plus UK is a huge market with lots of competition helps keep the price down.

That's probably the case mate but there's still some massive gaps there. i.e the difference between the 535d is nearly 70k NZD and I'm pretty sure 30k would max out the options on one of those.

[elmarco 56]

Does it include VAT & carbon taxes etc?

[deeveus 81]

Ok so their list prices don't include any VAT and emissions tax?

[RvT 9]

Hey Clinton. I asked myself the same question. I think that demand / supply has a lot to do with it. I am picking a car in a NZ yard will be on the lot for 12 months so there must be a interest component built into the sell price of about $20k. I also think that dealerships here are trying to run the new car sales as a profit centre while the UK are more focused on making numbers to turn over units = profit in the service dept.

I know that Toyota work on a principal that the service department makes the profit and the sales dept creates the work for them. Toyota also give the dealers rebates based on the cars they sell but obviously the demand in NZ is so small for German cars that the dealers can't pass any rebates back to the buyers like the most probably can in UK.

As my nest is empty at the moment, I am looking at Autotrader UK for my next mark. The prices are so competitive that I am like a kid in a candy shop .... I see the F10 M5 are S/Hand for 75k pounds = $NZ 140k. Ferrari F430 are 70k pounds ... Why would you shop locally ???

[deeveus 81]

Why would you shop locally ???

This is the thing. Even 50k can land you a very nice car. I understand they have to pay VAT and other taxes on emissions e.t.c. but even after pricing bluemotion VW's and other low emission cars they prices are still miles cheaper than kiwi ones.

Toyboata in NZ have to be making money on sales, they are a big because some people in NZ can't look outside the square and realize that makes such as BMW are reliable. My father in law owns a WOF testing station with a decent sized workshop and he hates BMW's with an absolute passion calling them UN-reliable German rollerskates. A family member bought a new VX Prado on special from 90k to 80k - they have deals all the time - the Toyota's seemed to have purchased dash materials and exterior paneling from Officeworks because they feel as they have the same feel and thickness of A4 sheets of paper. When you shut the door in a 90 grand car you shouldn't witness the roof suck in & out, you shouldn't be able to run your hands along the dash and have it feel like it's 0.1mm thick

There was a 1992 E36 318i in there with 230kms & an import a few weeks back with a blown head gasket and he commented; there you go, they're un-reliable! - The car looked like it was owned by someone living in a sewer, inside resembled a tip and the outside looked as if it was used for a bit of touch parking giving weight to the fact it probably wasn't looked after.

I just had to have a coke and a smile because it was a 20 year old rig with reasonably highish km's and this is the thing that people get into their heads, they never seem to mention when the Toyota's blow head gaskets, look at the 1KZ engines and the older 2.4 turbo engines! Sorry, I went way off topic on this one, I guess it was sitting in the back of my head about the general opinions of Euro's

[Grant 4]

It's not just cars. The same question could be asked about nearly every item for sale in NZ.

[Guest Simon*]

We are at the end of a very loooooooooooong boat trip for goods :-(

[Guest Ari Gold]

Good luck getting in anything tasty in without approval from the service agents for your steed of choice.

Try bringing in a Ferrari without Ateco being okay with it and see how far you get - they'll simply stop dealing with you.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2957]

Welcome to the world of Global Economics. The funny thing is when I lived in the UK we used to call it "Rip-Off Britain" because everything was so expensive compared to Europe. People used to buy new RHD BMWs in Holland and Belgium and then get them imported to the UK and it was thousands of pounds difference on your average model.

The big factor that is coming into effect here is the strength of the Kiwi Dollar against the Pound and Euro in particular, prices are pretty much fixed when a model is introduced, they are not continually adjusted to take into effect the changes in exchange rates. So as the dollar gets stronger (now less than 2 dollars to the pound it was over 3 not so long ago - sniff!) the NZ version effectively gets dearer against a UK car.

Freight would be a factor, but not a huge one, even moving cars from Germany to NZ is not that expensive. As for dealers, they are independent of BMW, why would you buy something from them and sell it at a loss? Even if you do hope to recover it in the service department later there are no guarantees, particularly with fixed price servicing and service packages included. Again selling prices are pretty much fixed by BMW, even in the UK it is pretty rare to get any discount on a screen price from a BMW dealer, you might get a few accessories thrown in and a t-shirt but not much else.

[Apex 693]

This bugs me too, mainly because I cant afford a decent model new BMW in NZ but could if I was living in Europe/America.

I see Jaguar have knocked 20+% off all models to better align pricing with Europe, looking at the amount of parallel imported Jags and independent service agents about I guess they had too.

How long before other "Premium" brands do the same? I remember reading the BMW have no plans to lower costs to match other markets.

As a comparison, the Jaguar XF 3.0 Turbo Diesel is $50,000 cheaper than the equivalent BMW 5 Series 3.0 Diesel yet cost the same in Europe.

[Guest Simon*]

That's interesting re Jaguar.

Surely the existence of a "global economy" makes direct country to country comparisons more valid than ever?

In almost all other form of consumer goods, especially tech goods, kiwis know they can source it cheaper overseas. And the web-baed businesses with no stock and a direct import to customer model have sprung up to facilitate this whole process for theless savvy bargain hunters.

Shipping and Govt imposed border taxes should really be the only differentiation.

Imagine how different things would be if we were a LHD car market.

[westy 614]

It's because they are ripoff artists.

I thought this was obvious?

On a slightly more serious note, if there's only one importer then there's no competition.

BMWNZ sets its price to what it thinks the market can accept. And you wont see a price war between BMW, Merc, Audi or Lexus. It wouldn't be 'seemly'.

Or maybe that's complete rubbish.

[Apex 693]

Well with Motorcorp (Jag) leading, all it would take Audi to do the same or even drop its pricing 10% and things would get interesting.

Local importers try and say its because of our standard "options" but its not hard to find out what things cost in Europe with the online calculators on their web sites. Whats more interesting to learn is that often these "options" are more than often thrown in on UK vehicles anyway, along with 2% interest finance or lease deals and your choice of colours delivered in a month not six months.

We really do get shafted.

Have been shopping for a new car this last couple of months and its amazing what features you get in a non premium car like a Ford Focus for under 50k, features you would not get on a Audi costing twice as much in our market.

[e38king 1]

Good luck getting in anything tasty in without approval from the service agents for your steed of choice.

Try bringing in a Ferrari without Ateco being okay with it and see how far you get - they'll simply stop dealing with you.

Legally they have to honour the global factory warranty - a precendent for this has already been set in NZ courts, ironically with someone who privately imported a Ferrari. There are plenty of independent service agents who can look after your vehicle for you.

And the web-baed businesses with no stock and a direct import to customer model have sprung up to facilitate this whole process for theless savvy bargain hunters.

Already on to that

I just quoted a new A4 S-line Avant in full "kiwi spec" 15% cheaper than sourced locally and if need be I can have it here in a week!!

Edited March 7, 2012 by e38king

[westy 614]

Well with Motorcorp (Jag) leading, all it would take Audi to do the same or even drop its pricing 10% and things would get interesting.

With Audi being on top in the local sales race for luxury cars (one would think Jaguar was included in this group) with BMW 2nd and Merc 3rd, I think think the chances of that happening are about 3/5 of f**kall.

[Wom 0]

if people keep paying the price NZ retailers set, the retailers will just keep fleecing us

someone needs to teach the rich folk who can afford NZ retailer prices how to find a bargain from overseas

this can be said about any product out there

[mrad01 0]

if people keep paying the price NZ retailers set, the retailers will just keep fleecing us

someone needs to teach the rich folk who can afford NZ retailer prices how to find a bargain from overseas

this can be said about any product out there

These "rich folk" see $250,000 like most people see $250

Most are not detail people - too much of a pain to find a car overseas, arrange money transfers, insurance, shipping etc etc - when their time is better spent on the next deal (or trade) which earns them another $50,000

One of the reasons they have money is because they have rewired themselves to not focus on "how to save money" - rather they focus on "how to make money"

They won't change their behavior because making, rather than saving, gives the best results.

[Wom 0]

and because they (the retailers) know there's people out there who will pay it and not care about shopping around for the ultimate bargain they know they can jack up the price

doesn't bother me, because those rich folk can buy the cars when they're expensive, I'll watch it depreciate big time and pick up a bargain in a few years

[kiwi535 538]

and because they (the retailers) know there's people out there who will pay it and not care about shopping around for the ultimate bargain they know they can jack up the price

doesn't bother me, because those rich folk can buy the cars when they're expensive, I'll watch it depreciate big time and pick up a bargain in a few years

not true...do you have any idea how much it costs to run a business on high street?The number of bmws and bmw parts sold here is TINY.The margins placed on the cars and parts is the only way BMWNZ and the dealers themselves can survive.Dont forget we have the population of a globally small city over a rugged rugged country.

buy everything form overseas,and the whole country will stop because only the farmer will have jobs...this is the end point of globalisation because EVRYTHING is cheaper overseas,including the skills and resources to do YOUR job

[RvT 9]

One of the reasons they have money is because they have rewired themselves to not focus on "how to save money" - rather they focus on "how to make money"

They won't change their behavior because making, rather than saving, gives the best results.

Interesting line of thought but I would take a different view ...

The reason some people are rich is because they don't spend any money in the early stages and when they do spend money, they do it wisely. In general, most people / Kiwis are risk adverse and conservative in their savings and spend their money on the wrong things like keeping up with the Jones's. There are some people that can't understand the difference between risk and gambling and they end up as 'losers'. Naturally there are some that end up rich because they knew that there are risks in anything but they took what I called 'calculated risks'. An example may have been buying property in Chc CBD which has fallen over and they lost but again, if they were wise risk takers, they would have also split their investments and bought elsewhere as well so when things go wrong, they aren't overly exposed; they regroup and go forward.

We all start at the same place on the monopoly board of life. Apart from those who inherit, everyone has the same chooses. We all start at the bottom with a first job but it is what you do with your money dictates what you end up with in later years. Money is like a snowball going down a hill and the more you accumulate the more you can grow. If you spend it or don't use it wisely, it will never grow.

Finally, when your snowball has grown to a large size, sure $250,000 may feel like $250 but don't think they don't know the value of it, it just means they have enough that $250,000 won't weaken the snowball and they can finally enjoy what they have been risking / saving all their lives ...

Sorry for the sermon on a Thursday night

[mrad01 0]

It's not really a line of thought - it is observed behavior. I have been exposed to some people you describe - so there are several ways to get there. In both cases it is mindset.

I was fortunate to be exposed to NZs top entrepreneurs last year through some awards I was a finalist in - some of those people are very rich - and I can tell you that they spend zero time on shopping around - for them, spending time getting the next deal into their favor is a better use of their brain.

But I think there are also quite a few people as you describe too. I'd like to see more NZers focus on building businesses and getting their heads around how to make money, so the sermon is welcome! Gives good perspective...

Interesting line of thought but I would take a different view ...

The reason some people are rich is because they don't spend any money in the early stages and when they do spend money, they do it wisely. In general, most people / Kiwis are risk adverse and conservative in their savings and spend their money on the wrong things like keeping up with the Jones's. There are some people that can't understand the difference between risk and gambling and they end up as 'losers'. Naturally there are some that end up rich because they knew that there are risks in anything but they took what I called 'calculated risks'. An example may have been buying property in Chc CBD which has fallen over and they lost but again, if they were wise risk takers, they would have also split their investments and bought elsewhere as well so when things go wrong, they aren't overly exposed; they regroup and go forward.

We all start at the same place on the monopoly board of life. Apart from those who inherit, everyone has the same chooses. We all start at the bottom with a first job but it is what you do with your money dictates what you end up with in later years. Money is like a snowball going down a hill and the more you accumulate the more you can grow. If you spend it or don't use it wisely, it will never grow.

Finally, when your snowball has grown to a large size, sure $250,000 may feel like $250 but don't think they don't know the value of it, it just means they have enough that $250,000 won't weaken the snowball and they can finally enjoy what they have been risking / saving all their lives ...

Sorry for the sermon on a Thursday night

[westy 614]

We all start at the same place on the monopoly board of life.

Ahhh, not quite.

[Guest Simon*]

Ahhh, not quite.

+1

Sadly far from true