Hypothesis on Prius price - need input from all countries!

You are wasting your time trying to compare the price of anything in one country, to the price of the same thing in another country. There are too many variables.

 

To make it even more complicated, are you differentiating between state sales taxes and say port or import taxes? I would say you should count an import or port tax, but not a sales tax.

 

Country, United Kingdom
Cheapest Prius: £19,855 (most expensive is £28,370. $30,600 and $43,700 USD respectively)
Petrol today: 111.9 pence per litre.

 

How about looking at this the other way round? In which countries do hybrids sell well in and why? Trouble is, the US is the biggest consumer for hybrids yet has one of the lowest fuel costs in the world.

Does this open up more complex reasons as to why hybrids are more popular there?

Maybe countries where local air pollution is important have hybrids - US, Japan, Sweden, UK etc, whereas other areas that aren't so concerned don't have them?

p.s. UK - Base Prius £20,000 ($30,800 US) inc sales tax at 17.5%, petrol £1.13p a litre

 

I've lived overseas, worked in dozens of countries, and have been involved in product pricing for many years. The pricing of a product is very complex, and the number of data points you'll get in this thread will be no where near the number needed to be statistically significant.

And, as pointed out in another post, more hybrids are purchased in the US--in sheer numbers, and, I suspect, as a % of total cars--and gas is very inexpensive here compared to most developed countries.

 

Country: USA
State: Georgia
Prius price (basic model, MSRP, no options) (without taxes or fees): 23,585 US$
Prius price (basic model, MSRP, no options) (including taxes and fees, but not considering rebates or special offers): 25,876 US$
Fuel price: 2.59 US$ / Gallon

In reality, this same vehicle can actually be purchased for under Invoice ($22.966) for $19,406. Add tax and fees and out the door is: $21,405! That's here in Atlanta anyway...

 

In Holland the cheapest model costs € 21.840,34
The price of a liter petrol is about € 1.579

 

Australia- Base Model AU$43383
Fuel: AU$1.20/litre

 

Sweden

Prius Base model(cheapest) 276000 SEK (~39000 USD)
Fuel price 13,50 SEK Per Liter (~7 USD / Gallon )

 

Greetings from Israel
Basic Price NIS 152,000 (approx USD 40,000)
Metalic Paint - NIS 2,000 (approx USD 526)
Annual registration NIS 2,170 (approx USD 571)
Max Price of Gas NIS 6.50 / liter (approx USD 1.71) you can find stations with up to 5-7% under the max price
Danny

 

WOW!!! $40,000!!!.....$526 for METALLIC PAINT!!!!

Suddenly I feel very fortunate to about the deal I got on my 2010 I close on tomorrow!

Are all cars that expensive in Israel?

Craig

 

Well everything is relative.
Actually compared to other cars (non hybrid) it is a great deal.

Cars In Israel are generally taxed as follows 84% customs + 16 % VAT Together that makes about 213%. Cars then get a reduction of taxes depending how green they are of anywhere from zero to $4,000.

Hybrids pay only 30% customs instead of the 84%.

In short most cars cost more the double the US price while the Prius is "only" about 70-80% higher. For example a Corolla goes for about $31-33K. If the Prius was fully taxed it would cost $52-53.
Yes you are fortunate - on both purchase price and gas price.

Danny

 

I'd say the realistic price with taxes is $22,500 for most of the US(kbb is down for some reason, but I think I remember the MSRP around that).

The real problem is gas prices....they not only fluctuate but are quite different in any given area: even in GA. When I'm driving up 441 to visit family in NC, I find some prices that are equivalent to Atlanta all the way down 10 cents cheaper then Atlanta. Then NC can be anywhere from close to GA prices to 20 cents more (NC generally has higher taxes on gas vs GA). Sometimes the cheapest prices are in Clayton, sometimes they're at a particular BP station that's inbetween Gainsville and Clayton. Heck, even now that I'm living intown....my local gas station (a Chevron) tends to be 10 cents more then the Quicktrip I normally frequent (and now that I have a Prius, I'm averaging about $17 for a refill!).

I think one has to look at MSRP of all cars in that area vs fuel prices of that area. Diesels are not as popular here in the states because the cars are more expensive (there aren't that many being sold) and diesel gas prices are higher (about 20 cents per gallon more then regular gas). My relatives in Austria have diesel cars, though, because they're the same price as their petrol equivalents as well as diesel gas prices being the same as regular gas.

 

Since you're not looking the actual purchase price, you can goto Toyota's website for each country that interests you to get the MSRP. For gas prices, you can search "UK petrol price". Just pick a city and then search for either "gas prices" or petrol prices". You don't really need forum member's input.

 

Yep. There are WAY too many due to stuff like taxation levels on the car and fuel, currency exchange rates, differences in equipment levels, etc.

One place where I know ALL cars are INSANELY expensive is Singapore. I know they have a "certificate of entitlement" but don't know the details (nor really care to learn it either). At Toyota -, I see a price of 120,998 Singapore dollars which Google says is $90,526 USD or $93,314 CAD.

To show this isn't a fluke, for example, http://www.nissan.com.sg/lookfor/370z/370z_price.cfm shows the cheapest Nissan 370Z is 193,800 Singapore dollars == $145,005 USD whereas in the US, the cheapest 370Z starts at $30,410 USD.

 

I lived in Amsterdam years ago, and cars had a 50% luxury tax (all car, not just expensive ones) plus 17.5% VAT. Northern European countries were even higher, with some having a 100% luxury tax + VAT. Add to that the cost of gas, and you understand why so many people in the Netherlands ride bikes. Fortunately I had a company car & gas credit card.