How come a Ducati Scrambler - Full Throttle - costs £8k in the UK and only $10k in the US of A? I keep hearing that being in Europe is good for UK trade... Go figure?? I wonder how much one would cost in Italy. A bit like buying Bushmills Whiskey cheaper in the US than one can at the Bushmill store in Norn' Iron...
That's £6550 at current exchange rate despite the extra shipping, or are there's made in the far east
Products (of all sorts) are largely priced at what the local market will pay. It's not directly related to the cost of producing the product. The UK is a cash cow for cars and bikes as we like to buy new and replace regularly. Not to mention the brand snobbery and penchant for 'premium' products that we so readily display (how many hot hatches / sports saloons do you see in France, despite their vastly superior roads?!) that make us perhaps the perfect consumers for overpriced 'form over function' marketing. Yes, that was partly a dig at The Scrambler. :Angelic:
Tax is what makes the difference between the UK and the USA. What would happen if we leave the EU would depend upon the exchange rates, would Sterling rise compared to the Euro ? What would happen if Italy left the Euro ?
I suspect that most business would like the UK to stay in the EU. So if the UK left, the value of the £ would fall and Ducatis would become more expensive. If on the other hand I am mistaken, the value of the £ would rise and Ducatis would become less expensive. If, after a hypothetical leaving of the EU, it was found that the UK did rather better than before it left, that would be reflected in a rise in the £.
Before the EU BMW used to charge more for their cars in the UK than they did in Europe because they were seen as a luxury brand in the UK and so people would pay more. Since the EU that is no longer allowed, Should Britain leave the EU then there would be nothing to stop EU companies putting up UK prices. I would expect that many Euro manufacturers who assemble cars in the UK at the moment would make plans to move manufacturing to mainland Europe too. Why would Italy leave the euro? Their national debt is smaller than that of the UK and everything that they make is sold EU wide.
In absolute term maybe, but UK National Debt is 90% of GDP Italian National Debt is 132% of GDP (Greek National Debt is 175% of GDP) Figures from 2013 Tax evasion is the national sport in Italy and Greece; they are going to get a lot worse before they get better.
Does anyone know whether bikes carry a "duty" element of tax, added before VAT is calculated? I can't find anything about this, although I've seen suggestions that non-EU car imports involve a 10% duty. As it is the UK VAT rate of 20% accounts for a lot of the extra price here, vs US anyway, but other EU countries usually charge more (Luxembourg might be cheaper). A long time ago I imported a new car from Belgium (because the basic price there was much lower) and I paid the VAT in the UK (then 17.5%) rather than in Belgium (then 22.5%) - as an EU purchaser I was free to do that although I had to do the paperwork to prove that I had paid it.
Unless things have changed a lot recently, the worrying thing is that the UK's budget deficit is worse than Italy or Greece, meaning that we are catching up with them when it comes to the debt/GDP comparison! I think Japan is worse than us on both fronts though.
Italy is, although not to the same level as Greece, paying back their EU loans at an interest rate that means their real debt is increasing day by day. Unless something big happens both of these countries may eventually be forced to do something to stop what on the face of it is an ever spiralling mountain of debt. Leaving the Euro is one option.
Only this week, the UK government has sold off its part-ownership of Eurostar for £585million. George Osborne said: "This is a very good deal – it means we can cut the national debt, it means we can invest in our national infrastructure and it’s fantastic value for British taxpayers. It’s all part of our long-term plan to secure Britain’s future." He has omitted to mention that it is not just debt that has been cut - assets have been cut too. It also means that this valuable and strategic national infrastructure has passed wholly into overseas hands. The French and Belgians think we are insane to do this, and they're not far wrong.
And the UK debt is getting bigger despite what the politicians are saying, the only thing that is going down is the huge sum that they are borrowing every month, but they are still borrowing making the debt go up. I think that the main hobby in the lower intelligence areas of the UK these days is to find someone to blame and immigrants are an easy target, with the EU coming a close second. It will make little difference to me if the UK leave as I live in France. I pay tax on my pension in the UK, I have no choice in that, but am not entitled to anything from the old country, I cannot even use the NHS should I visit.
So as a comparison what vat and import duty is there in the USA. I have read 10% vat, 2.9 to 7% State tax and with an import duty (which there surely must be) it means their tax burden is greater than ours doesn't it?
Last time I looked, they barely paid any tax at all. The % of people who are exempt from tax in the US is enormous.
