Golf GTI Mark VI Specifications and Prices

[Dubya]

Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot that Customs, Quarantine (AQIS), and dock workers all donate their services for free

AQIS is funded by import duty (tariff on the car) and freight forwarding fees and the like (let alone painters and dockers wages (LOL)) are neither an import levy nor duty.

Either way, they'd be a tiny percentage of the value of the car, and I have sought to cover such costs with "shipping and haulage", but a few hundred duty-free dollars either way on a $40k car is not going to have a significant effect on the figures overall.

Anyway... I'm gonna go with Swallowtail's lead. There is no point 'discussing' with someone that just wants to argue and not provide any reference or factual basis for their arguments, despite references being provided by other people in the discussions. I guess people here really do know more than people in the industry, or Customs and the Australian Motoring press.

Unlike you, I did not provide misinformation (about dealer rent and wages being factors in RRP) but I did provide a rationale based on some assumptions (made necessary because, as you helpfully point out, importers guard information about their costs very closely).

I also accepted your advice that duty was based on the net factory price and added into my assumptions some extra non-dutiable costs an importer might incur - but the error for these costs could be 100% and it would still not have a huge impact on the percentage reduction that should flow through to the list price.

But until this post, you have not provided any facts either, just baloney about a bunch of irrelevant costs. And even now, all you've done is provide some links without distilling the relevant facts. The Customs link does confirm that duty is paid on the factory price, as I expected it would.

I mean, when Drive say the following, wtf would they know?:

Drive can’t tell you exactly how much import duty you pay because the 10 per cent tariff is paid on the wholesale price of the car, before the manufacturer and dealer add their profit margins.

Car companies won’t reveal how much import duty they pay because it would allow their competitors to estimate their profit margins.

I don't know wtf Drive or any other journalists know.

But the Drive quote does refer somewhat ambiguously to the tariff being paid on the "wholesale price" which is not entirely consistent with what you said in your post about tariffs being based on the ex-factory price and what Customs says in its Guide to the Valuation of Imported Road Vehicles about duty being paid on the ex-factory price, not the wholesale price, but Drive is probably more ambiguous than wrong.

But the wholesale price is what dealers pay and the factory price is what the importer pays. Do you still have as much faith in Drive (and the press)?

Or maybe we could just look to the last time this happened in Jan 2005 when it went from 15% to 10%. I mean, the retail prices didn't drop 5% at that point either, but apparently forum members here know better, so I think everyone should just read these forums instead of believing everyone that actually makes a living doing this stuff!

If you thought about it a bit more carefully, Coreying, you would realise that I have not been saying what has happened, or what will happen, when tariff's are reduced. I've just been explaining what is feasible based on some realistic assumptions.

For your part, you (and Maverick) read an article about how Mazda reduced their retail prices by 3% in response to the tariff cut and tout that as evidence that 3% is the most that an importer can pass on by way of cuts to the list price.

You then tried to explain why a 5% drop in the tariff rate could not possibly translate to a similar drop in the list price.

For my part, I rebutted your fallacious arguments (mainly about dealer overheads), used some realistic assumptions and applied basic cost accounting principles, to show the contrary view that most of the 4.55% reduction in the landed factory cost could reasonably be expected to flow through to the RRP unless it had already been factored in or the importer was going take a bigger share of the pie - and boo-hoo, you did not like it. I showed how after taking out non-dutiable variable costs such as shipping etc, the percentage benefit of the tariff reduction remained a constant as importer and retailer margins and GST were added.

If you believe everything you read in the press or, worse, misinterpret it, or read more than is there, you do everyone on this forum a disservice when you cite that article and Mazda's actions as authority for the proposition that a 5% reduction in tariff level translates to at most 3% off RRP (before ORCs) and then make up porkies to explain this outcome. As it turned out, Mazda's 3% price reduction aligned perfectly with the percentage you'd expect if an importer passed on the dollar saving but not the percentage saving, and this, coincidentally or not, was reflected in my numbers.

I much prefer to start with the facts, or in their absence some reasonable assumptions, and see what the result is, rather than make up "facts" to justify or explain a particular outcome.

If the non-dutiable assumptions in my example are half right, it shows a percentage reduction in list price in the order of 4.3% is feasible (that percentage being constant once non-dutiable costs have been accounted for).

Naturally, if anyone has an accurate bill of costs a car importer incurs I'd be happy to update the figures.

[Corey_R]

I much prefer to start with the facts

So provide some... otherwise, as Swallowtail said, STFU

[Dubya]

So provide some... otherwise, as Swallowtail said, STFU

Very funny - but you can read; my conclusions were based on reasonable assumptions (which I provided in lieu of precise numbers) and established cost accounting principles. So if the nonsense stops I would be delighted to STFU.

[Swallowtail]

Well done guys. The "nonsense" carrying on after you have been asked to stop has earned both of you an infraction.

This thread is to discuss Mk VI GTI specs and prices, not to discuss completely irrelevant details of how VW do or do not pass on tariff changes. The last few pages have made this thread completely non-relevant and boring to 99% of people interested in Golf GTI pricing...

[Nath]

So back on topic, new here and have been reading all the posts for a week or so now, some good information, love the GTI buying spreadsheet, and then some not so useful informaiton.....

Question then, what should you aim for when purchasing a new car as far as discount, haven't purchased a new car in 8 years, and havent owned a car at all in the last 2, so am a bit rusty.

I've been talking to a local dealer about a 5dr, DSG, Metalic paint with no other options, according the spreadsheet retail should be $48-$49k, so would a starting position of say $46K be realistic or too high/too low?

Any opinions are welcome...

[Corey_R]

If you are eligible for corporate discount, you may be able to get up to ~$4500. However, without that you are more realistically looking at $3ish if your dealer wishes to play ball. The issue is that the first batch are now running lowish so there isn't too many options out there, and it's not the end of a month so they're not in a mad rush to make numbers.

But don't let us discourage you. Go for it and see what you can achieve!

[niulf]

Post my experience here. We ordered GTI today. Waiting for delivery sometimes between March and April.

5 Door
DSG
Bi-Xenon
Carbon Steel Gray
18"
MDI

Drive away price is 47780. We were also told if the rrp dropped by VWA due to import duty drops, they will pass the difference to us.

[niulf]

So back on topic, new here and have been reading all the posts for a week or so now, some good information, love the GTI buying spreadsheet, and then some not so useful informaiton.....

Question then, what should you aim for when purchasing a new car as far as discount, haven't purchased a new car in 8 years, and havent owned a car at all in the last 2, so am a bit rusty.

I've been talking to a local dealer about a 5dr, DSG, Metalic paint with no other options, according the spreadsheet retail should be $48-$49k, so would a starting position of say $46K be realistic or too high/too low?

Any opinions are welcome...

It really depends on how much do you want to pay. I would accept 48500 for the car I ordered without MDI. So I asked them from 46800 and finally got 47780 with MDI+ipod cable.

[Corey_R]

I calculate that car as ~$52548 drive away based on RRP prices. So you've managed around a $4770 discount which is pretty awesome. Did you use the corporate discount program to achieve this price?

[pologti18t]

They are all at it! Thieving, lying cheats

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25766900829D69