Mk7 Golf R Discussion Thread

[hainsey]

I 100% agree with what you are saying with supporting the local guys, and I am a part of that too, being a mechanic in the army it gets drilled into us to buy local and support your garrison city. But it come a point in time when you sit back and think that a 450$ part is almost exactly doubled and sold to us and the same principal applies to a part that is 60 dollars and then doubled, how is the margin the same for these parts ( approx. 90-100%) when gst and overheads are considered, and it's is to be believed that the same margin applies for a cheaper part. Seems fishy but you are right, these guys are trying to make a living and I would rather them do it this way than breaking the law.

but a 100% mark up, really???

[avdo_]

I 100% agree with what you are saying with supporting the local guys, and I am a part of that too, being a mechanic in the army it gets drilled into us to buy local and support your garrison city. But it come a point in time when you sit back and think that a 450$ part is almost exactly doubled and sold to us and the same principal applies to a part that is 60 dollars and then doubled, how is the margin the same for these parts ( approx. 90-100%) when gst and overheads are considered, and it's is to be believed that the same margin applies for a cheaper part. Seems fishy but you are right, these guys are trying to make a living and I would rather them do it this way than breaking the law.

but a 100% mark up, really???

One thing you have forgotten to take into consideration is that the dealers here dont pay retail prices from USA distributors

[hainsey]

One thing you have forgotten to take into consideration is that the dealers here dont pay retail prices from USA distributors

So they don't get their apr parts from apr directly?? Same as what the states dealers would?

[Guy_H]

I 100% agree with what you are saying with supporting the local guys, and I am a part of that too, being a mechanic in the army it gets drilled into us to buy local and support your garrison city. But it come a point in time when you sit back and think that a 450$ part is almost exactly doubled and sold to us and the same principal applies to a part that is 60 dollars and then doubled, how is the margin the same for these parts ( approx. 90-100%) when gst and overheads are considered, and it's is to be believed that the same margin applies for a cheaper part. Seems fishy but you are right, these guys are trying to make a living and I would rather them do it this way than breaking the law.

but a 100% mark up, really???

Hainsey,

I can 100% guarantee you there is no massive markup in any of the APR hardware - pure & simple fact. The margins are slim. We pay import duty (not made in the USA), we pay customs clearance charges & we pay GST.

We also run a warehouse, we hold local stock (so if you have a warranty issue, its swapped over), we run a tech team & sales team.

Unfortunately APR don't pay us to do this, we choose to do this to offer the best support for the product.

Only people who run business's would fully understand. Simply Australia is one of the most expensive places in the world to do business.

Lets just hope they don't outsource Army maintenance to our neighbouring countries (Like Qantas has) or import workers who will do the job for 1/3rd of the price. This is part of the reason for the current rate of business closures & the record unemployment rate.

P.S. Any APR dealer worldwide that is caught selling outside of their sales area will risk having their APR dealer status suspended or cancelled. The same goes for us when we get asked to ship internationally. To respect the other business's we will honour our APR contract.

[hainsey]

Cheers Guy,

in no way was I trying to say you guys are frauding the system all I was trying to ask was why they are so different to the States prices and if so, what is stopping people from buying over from there and not here.

Really good answer mate, ticks all the boxes. And I have read on Here about the support that the dealers for apr Australia have and uphold.

I honestly do feel sorry for you guys when it comes down to it though and that you are trying to make an honest living and have to compete with people that don't have the overheads that we do here. But when push comes to shove, people will be put in the position Of the cheaper option, just like you said, economy, employment rate. Etc. and the repercussions of this are and have already been quite noticeble all over the country and parts of the world. Holden and ford and seat (blasphemy).

Again mate, thanks for the answer, I have one more question though,
How does apr know if you do sell outside of your jurisdiction?? Are all parts serial tracked or similar, or is it just not done out of fear of contract termination and respect for the brand??
people have different morals and so If there is a way to track these parts then I find it highly unlikely that a dealer in another country would take the gamble..

Cheers

[Guy_H]

Thanks Hainsey,


Appreciate it. The US model seems to be built around a US retail price point, and huge volume. It has never translated into same retail in Australia.

Most of the hardware has serial & batch numbers on it, so some of its pretty easy to track. Unfortunately what the "grey importing" thing has forced is a "proof of purchase" policy now, unlike the old days where if you have a faulty APR product, you could return it to any APR dealer for warranty.

You can do a search - even on this forum of people who have grey imported items, have an issue & are stuck with it. Not common, but if you are the bunny, then its an expensive exercise.

[sergioscirocco]

VW driving experience
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufms_pd8jvo

[sergioscirocco]

Comparison GTI and R
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80a8M8HM74o

[jonoz]

Give it a few years and there will hopefully be price parity between the US and other first-world nations.

Sephora a cosmetics company is opening in Australia shortly and is matching their US prices locally in Australia, hopefully other brands follow suit and we can stop paying an Australia tax.

On another note, for people using the R as their daily, what mode are you generally driving in? Econo?

[andrew7]

^ Normal mode most of the time (occasionally with suspension in comfort mode), eco on highway driving or when the +1 is driving as it tones things down a tad