Who remembers this M3

Originally Posted by DesiredM

I myself whinge from time to time about it all but I don't think I'm an expert economist, I just don't see why there has to be sure a price increase on so many new cars. Look at Infiniti they have come in Australia pricing their cars as a luxury brand along the lines of BMW, Mercedes and Lexus. They have stated that sales are no where near what they forecasted when they entered the market. What would be the reason for that? Probably in the consumers mind because they have come over with speced up $30k cars from the US and try to sell them for $80-90k.

A whinging person is actually sometimes important to listen to because that person is a consumer...look at why companies like Hyundai, Toyota, and Kia are doing better then ever before in the Australian market? There are reasons behind these facts and figures.

Well firstly comparing BMW to Hyundai, Toyota and Kia is a mistake because you are comparing apples to oranges. Sure they may be all car manufacturers, but they most certainly have different business models and the last I checked.

There are so many reasons as to why i think we have pay higher prices for cars than that of other countries and I won't go into detail because I will be writing an essay. Few points:

- Geographical location (Distance to send a car from Germany to the UK is a lot cheaper than sending a car from Germany to Australia.
- PPP (Purchasing power parity) (Why are things in America cheaper? Simple: They have a higher purchasing power parity than that of Australia and have to cater to 330million people as opposed to 22million people.)
- Import duties, GST, Luxury car tax
- Protected local market (Who would buy a Commodore or Falcon if a 5-series and E-Class were sold at those prices?)
- Supply and demand. (People keep buying the cars so they continue to have sales growth)
- Australia is a damn expensive country to run a business. (They need to make money so they need to cover high wages, the workshop, the showrooms and all the other things necessary to keep the business profitable)
- Australians have money. (The average wage here is quite high and look at how much Australia travel)
- High dollar. Remember when the US$ was around 60-65c. We all weren't rushing over there to holiday nor were we buying car parts? Our dollar is incredibly high at the moment.

I'm not defending high prices, because I would love to pay $80,000 for a new M3 as well but I am just explaining as to why things are expensive here.

Oh and here is your reason as to why Infiniti have not met their sales forecasts: They have no brand awareness and that is not something that can be developed overnight. Like I said with the Commodore and Falcon example, who would buy an Infiniti when you can buy a BMW, Mercedes or Audi? The people at BMW, Mercedes and Audi are not fools and they know how to market themselves and give buyers that perceived value. If anything, the prices of the lower spec models from BMW, Mercedes and Audi are at their lowest in years.

But hey I could be completely wrong and we all might be being taken for a ride.

Whoops. So much for not writing an essay..

Well said M3_DU!

Because it's becoming increasingly hard to buy a 'bad' car (except maybe if you go to Great Wall or Chery). I do a lot of work with Toyota and while they had a bumper year in 2012 overall, companies like Hyundai continue to gain ground because they are now perceived to have good enough quality where they did not before, and it is more difficult to justify shelling out more for a Toyota. Honda meanwhile is going stale because its product is ordinary (with 1 or 2 exceptions) and they continue to charge more for it than other *** manufacturers...

So it's harder to justify (logically) spending more on a luxury brand. But there's so much emotion involved in buying cars as we all know.

Yeah the Infinitis are a bit a steep I think, it doesn't help that there are more than a few grey imports floating around that were sold much, much cheaper. Nissan would have known they were up against it since the last couple of times they have tried to launch a premium brand here - the Infiniti Q45 back in the very early 90s and the Nissan R32 GT-R around the same time; both were over $100K in a post-recession period and hardly anyone wanted to pay close to $100K for "just a Nissan".

And yeah while I do reckon we haven't got it too bad down under, it has bugged me before when I've picked up an EVO UK mag from say, 2006, and in the Second hand buyers guide they've featured an E46 M3, and interviewed some 22 year old who is the owner; at the time it would've been an $80K car or something like that, here in Aus.

All your points are valid as to why there is an inflation in prices and I agree with you. However those reasons alone cannot justify a near 70-100% price increase on many models of cars. Realistically they do it because they can, sure it might cost a little more to get cars here, sure there are taxes (we pay the lux car tax if its not included in the price), you will find a lot of dealers here own the property so there's an added expense but I would love to see the gross profit margins and turnover on cars like BMW etc. I'm not comparing Hyundai etc to the European brands in terms of quality but more so in terms of price between countries etc. Everyone knows cars here are priced stupidly however so many Japanese and Korean makers don't actually inflate their prices like the European brands do. Basically it's more so prestige pricing then it is costs associated with getting the cars here and selling them in Australia. It's simple...in Australia prestige cars obtain a prestige price point.

And sure Infiniti don't have any brand recognition as of yet but that can't justify their reasons for sales. Opel entered the market and nearly doubled Infiniti's sales within the same time bracket. Now everyone knows Opel is a lux brand of GM re-entering Australia, but why did people jump at them, because they entered with pretty good price points on a decent car and acknowledged what the Australian Market lacked - cars to suit the market. While our dollar is stronger now, it doesn't mean our economy isn't struggling in some aspects. But Infiniti lacked that price point...logically it's just a crazy business model. Enter the market with a fancy Nissan, double the price and see how we do. There's no value there, there's no reason for consumers to view it as a "possible" option for a purchase. Infiniti have done plenty of advertising in tv and magazine and e marketing yet it hasn't provided any result due to the fact they are entering a very competitive market and have out the self at a premium price point with little to back up the decision to do so.

At the end it's annoying that this is this case but Australia is calling out for something which is why BMW bought out the 1 series...a cheaper BMW to appeal to a wider market (still a huge mark up in price), Audi did their A1 and Merc is bringing out their A class. One day prices will drop but who knows when. Anyway I have whinged enough for today haha.

An import with a respray, horrific.

Yep pay for the inspection and I'll reimburse upon proof of it being cracked

I've never heard of a vert with a subframe problem

That's just one off the first page of google...couldn't be bothered going through all the results.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=737652

While the chances of it happening are much lower then a coupe, it's not a guarantee that it won't happen. It can happen if the car is abused or mistreated so I wouldn't rule it out.