US v/s Australia Price
 

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4328

As the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) has now been released for the Scion FR-S (US $24,200) for the manual version, I would like to survey the opinion of potential Aussie buyers. Of course, it is only wishful to think that Toyota would offer a similar level of pricing for Australia even if US dollar and Aussie dollar are virutally at parity.

My question is: With the release of US pricing, how much more are you prepared to pay for the standard spec 86 in Australia?

My opinion: $10,800 or 44.6% more. Based on a price of $35,000 (before stamp duty and registration)

Although your probably right, $35000 is too much.

Compare it with FJ Cruiser

US FJ MSRP $30000 (4x4 Auto)
US 86 MSRP $24000

AUS FJ Drive away around $48000
AUS 86 Drive away ??? $38000ish???


Also beaware Aus Toyota 86 marketing targets are age 35+ , white collar, HHI 150+
I wouldnt surprise if the base model starts from $40000

I know where you got that from... But still, are they bloody serious!? That's just waaay off.

Compare it with the Rukus / xB

US Scion xB RRP: $17,980
US Scion FR-S RRP: $24,930

AU Toyota Rukus RRP: $30,933 (variance of $12,953 or 72.04%)
AU Toyota 86 RRP: $42,890

So how about we don't compare US to AU? :)

the amount of tariff we have to pay makes baby Jesus cry :(

45% up from US MSRP is normal.

The amount of Australian members I see complaining about the price tells me Toyotas target market is dead right.

Prolly better to compare cars that are about the same price:

Prius in USA starts at $24k before dealer charges.
Prius in Aus currently starts at $35k before dealer charges.

Keeping in mind the price of the prius dropped from $39k mid last year.

I don't get why people are still comparing to US pricing. It varies so widely across the range that it'd be hard to make an algorithm to predict AU pricing. We're probably better off looking at JP pricing as they'll be a closer car than what the FR-S is (RHD + options make it a different car with amortization on a lot of the production costs).

Also, keep this in mind. Scion FR-S is US$24,930 and a Subaru WRX is US$25,595. Mind = blown. If that's anything to go by, we'll be in for a $42,000 price tag for the base model.

Tariff's aren't to blame. It's all about the volume that get sold here.

There'll only be a few changes to meet ADR but to do those costs auto manufacturers quite a lot of money. Well, not so much more than it would for any other market, but there are less cars to spread the cost across. Think of everything that adds to the cost of a car: training and support systems, marketing operations, generous dealership profits, shipping, etc... over a low volume all this has a substantial effect.

Low volume shouldn't really effect the price per unit... Australia is 3% of Toyota's market. That means 3% volume. Which in turn only requires 3% training and support systems, 3% marketing operations etc...

It all scales the same.

I wouldnt mind pay 30% more than US

but costs don't work this way. cost for diff markets are just different and you cant just use % off unit sold.

wages, tax (import and income), shipping, rent etc are independent of volume and don't scale the same way.

these costs are not charged directly by Toyota Head Office back in Japan.

No. There is no scale.

For every market a vehicle is sold in, everything needs to be modified for that market. In terms of training/support, language and standards are completely different from country to country. Cars need to be ADR certified and that costs money. Remember that Australia has some of the strictest regulations in the world. Our cars might even be heavier because they may have to add equipment. Probably not by a lot, but a bit.

In each market, marketing strategies are completely different; in Australia we have far too many manufacturers and models considering our population, meaning that the media landscape is highly competitive (considering we have some of the highest cost-per-thousand rates in the world too!). Not only do manufacturers have to pay more for media, but they have about a million competitors too.

Sometimes stuff can be carried over from a base market (for us, we're similar to Japan but believe it or not, RHD is far outweighed by LHD), but the cost of doing any modification is pretty insane.

Even Apple has a problem with selling stuff internationally, and other than chargers their products are virtually identical across markets. Exchange rates and potential for fluctuation also come into play. Australian economic outlook is quite strong since we're relatively insulated from the rest of the world, so no one's forecasting severe devaluations to the AUD in the next few years.

These aren't all the variables that come into what makes up car pricing either. I bet Toyota have quite a number of people that contribute information to the decision making process. Hell, they probably have a few people doing it full time.

Tax is fairly high in Australia, I'll concede that, but it's not the major factor as to why our cars are so expensive. Globalization is a complex matter especially for complex industries like Automotive.