I have always been lead to believe that new cars are cheap in Switzerland. Imagine my dismay when I look in What Car (UK) magazine and there is a BMW525d SE Business automatic at a total price on the road of 34600GBP new.
I then look on Autoscout.ch and the similar car is up at the 80kchf mark. At todays exhange rate 34600GBP is about 57090chf. Why is there such a huge difference in two new cars with almost identical spec (note that I use this model as an example as it already contains all the toys like leather, sat nav,auto included)

Any comments/explanations/rants ?

BigD

__________________
You make your own luck.

www.shootingthecheese.ch
The place for fun and chat in Switzerland.

I have an even better example recently. King sized 13.5 tog duvet in uk with 100% Canadian goose down fill £240. King sized 13.5 tog duvet in Switzerland with an inferior 90% unspecified down fill 10% feather 900chf!

I thought I had overlooked something significant and someone could point it out to me, but I really cannot find what explains such a huge disparity.

BigD

__________________
You make your own luck.

www.shootingthecheese.ch
The place for fun and chat in Switzerland.

"What the market will bear"

A while ago when the FX rate was 2.3, when prices were set/FX deals done, the GBP to CHF pricing was similar. I'd expect the UK prices to go up if the pound stays where it is. Also cars aren't perfectly trade-able internationally, the UK spec car isn't much good for CH, it isn't even any good for Australia as it won't meet ADRs (Australian Design Rules). Car manufacturers benefit from this when setting prices country to country. Look at the same car price in US and AUS, you'll weep and wince respectively.

The word-round-the-camp-fire is that used cars offer good value because the locals are unwilling to be seen in anything more than two years old..

Maybe I'll do some more sums. Mind you if we all were "sensible" we would all be driving round in 10-year old Golfs. I find it difficult to get excited about cars in general, and if I could commute by public transport, I would. But I can't.

BigD

__________________
You make your own luck.

www.shootingthecheese.ch
The place for fun and chat in Switzerland.

Rather than looking at the net purchase cost of the car, if you compare it as a percentage of the annual Swiss wage versus British wage, the disparity becomes much less.

On an aside, a friend recently lamented that a pack of 60 newborn Pampers costs CHF 30 here, and just under £9 in the UK.... same thing I guess, it's simply because the market will pay it.

__________________
Bring on Summer!

I look at it from a business perspective, but I could do without the hassle of importing one from Eurozone.

BigD

__________________
You make your own luck.

www.shootingthecheese.ch
The place for fun and chat in Switzerland.

Aldi is the way forward here, less nappy rash than the big brands with our boy.

Key sentence being - as Peachy correctly said - because the market will pay it.

I was recently an interview with a very successful medical company, and the marketing manager has given me a candid explanation for their prices. In CH, they can be as high as 50% of, lets say, Eastern Europe. It is not a question of higher manufacture or marketing costs - the margins were pretty sweet for CH Reason is that the Swiss can pay for, that they will pay for it, and above all, because they firmly believe a higher cost will translate into higher quality and product assurance (what I would call the Schweizer qualitaet myth). They are growing double digits in CH, so the strategy cannot be completely wrong...

__________________
My blogs: about food and Zurich 1200 fountains

Hmm - apparently there are 7 import companies over which all imports have to go, including supermarkets like Coop and Migros. They slap on 30% of anything you have to pay extra.

__________________
Scoundrel, scamp, brother of the angle