Quote:
Originally Posted by Mu Mu
Just to throw a spanner in the works here. The interesting thing is, as cars maybe more expensive here compared to the US, we tend to get quite a lot of things for less than you guys do. For example, our property prices are more reasonable in comparison. So are our basic commodities like food, et cetera. So one can easily say that it balances out at the end of the day.  |
Really? Prices must have dropped substantially in the last year. I grew up in East London, any house I'd want to live in now will cost in excess of R2.5M. For the same money you'd get a much nicer, newer and more custom house in central NC where I am now. You pay 14% VAT on just about everything, sales tax here is 3-7%. In the US as a CPA I am making about +-30% more than the similar job as a CA(SA) and ofcourse options are much more limited in SA for obvious reasons. With dollars in my pocket, vacationing there does seem cheaper (once you get there) but thats only with reference to entertainment, meals, grocery shopping etc. A substantial % of the population is living month to month if they're lucky to have a job, and eating out is a luxury for most of my family who are what you'd consider the upper middle class. Here eating out is an almost daily event whether its lunch or dinner.
Seems to me like I have alot more disposable income in the US and the cars are cheaper, on average 30-50% cheaper. It baffles me how the manufacturers have been able to get away with this markup on fully imported cars for so long.
It baffles me even more that MBSA exports C300 benzes with sport package (AMG kit in SA speak) as base model to the US and MBUSA sells them in the for the same money as a base C180K in SA. Are they selling the export models at a loss for market share? I doubt it.