In an attempt to boost Hybrid sales here, Toyota Australia is offering finance at a low 2.9% at present. Great time to buy a new Prius or Camry Hybrid here for a while!
Sounds good. But I can get 2.9% on a Prius in New York and save the cost of shipping the car from Australia.
Are hybrids a popular sight in Oz or are they shunned? How is the Aussie Camry Hybrid selling? Are they becoming a popular sight yet?
Just been checking it out on the Aussie Toyota website. It looks good and emissions at 142g/km is slightly higher than a diesel Avensis manual, but only just higher. I really don't know why they dont sell them here in the UK as I'm sure there would be a market for them, especially at that sort of economy.
I bought my second hand 2007 iTech with 44000 kms for $24K. I think they are more expensive here than the US. The new 2010 is just under $58K.
$58,000 Aussie dollars? Yikes, no wonder there arn't many about. That works out at £35,000 (US$51,000). A base Prius here is £19,500 including VAT sales tax at 17.5% and I thought we were taxed highly. What are the rules on personal imports? Surely there has to be a grey import market from Japan for these cars?
That A$58k figure is for our top model, an I-tech (registered, on-road) .....which is equivalent to a US Pkg 5 w/atp and leather, but including the sunroof/solar panels but 15" wheels. So that is a loaded Prius. Our base model starts at around A$42k registered, on-road. These are retail prices.....discounts of between $3k to $8k (depending on model) are quite easy to negotiate. Grey imports only start to make financial sense here once they are at least 4-5 years old due to tax rates/ compliance rules, and shipping costs.
