Quote:
Originally Posted by Skorov
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.
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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.