IceCreamMan wrote:
Maybe not a good comparison ...the cheapest polo here is a vivo which is a built to cheap price car stripped of expensive items like ABS, air bags and other items which are available as bolt on items here ...probably standard in the uk. better to compare the polo to the standard polo range here which starts at 140k as i remember.
Secondly , it is quite possible that the polo avaialble in the uk is actually built here , i seem to recall we export polo's to a few markets which would make the pricing even more scandalous. (but i am dim on this one )
Oh I'm sure that it's the case. Car companies tend to operate globally these days, though it's not universal. I used to own a Peugeot 307. All RHD 307s, irrespective of where they are sold, are built in one factory and shipped to the market places. Ditto all RHD 3 series BMWs (built in SA).
Now, yes, equipment levels may vary to suit the markets. You can't buy a 1.2 Polo here for example, but you can in the UK. The Peugeot 307 that I had here had less safety features than the equivalent model in the UK. So comparing prices is tricky. However comparing the price of the cheapest 1.4 polo in SA to the cheapest in GB and dividing the prices I get a ratio of 8.something, well below the exchange rate, so even making allowance for the extra kit I don't feel we're being skinned alive here.
But as I said, I'm not taking a stand on VW here, I'm trying to make the point that information is our friend. We have already had predictions about what Marshall were going to charge for Gibsons. Well is Msch is to be believed - and he was in the shop - Marshall's pricing compares very well to that of the parallel importers. Not surprising if you think it through any importer has to be buying their guitars from somewhere, and "somewhere" is going to be making a profit at the point the guitars leave their business. so the supply chains are not necessarily any shorter.
Please let me be clear here: I am not accusing any parallell importer of ripping anybody off. However, we can sit hear and believe all kinds of things about Marshall and the pricing of Gibsons, or we can go into a store and KNOW what the price is and then make an educated decision, a better (for us) decision.
