Driven: VW Passat Diesel DSG ...

[TRANSAM]

price 24 lacs for VW but diesel several pros, for petrol heads (like me) the nissan teana in petrol is similarly priced and IMO far more luxorious and with a super silent V6 engine, keyless ignition, auto etc.

[Nitin]

Sweet! Looks like this is gonna be a big hit!

[raul]

I think even considering the Indian scene, its 400,000 too much, thats around 26 lakhs onroad, I honest don't feel its worth that much. This sticker price for this is around 18000 pounds and the petrol version is around 26000 dollars for the highest model in Edmunds.

I it just me or car prices totally out of sync with our earning power, In the US, UK a mid level executive easily earns 100k plus, a car like this is a fifth to a quarter of his yearly salary. For the average professional it would be half his yearly pay. In India this a mid level executive would be making 14-25 lakhs per annum, a young professional 8-16 lakhs, this would be once or twice your yearly salary. What gives?

Whatever the merits the cream strategy can work but surely you are limiting your market, and what about the cost savings starting from production costs to marketing costs that are a fraction of costs abroad. Either we are getting paid poorly or the car companies are taking us for a ride.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Whoa! 100K what?

It is not at all easy to earn £100,000 in UK.

I'm not saying that there are not lots of people who do, but it is not run-of-the-mill middle-management salary. I wish it had been! Even half that would be a very good salary.

[raul]

That 100k was for US, UK is more like 50-60k, the proportions still remain intact though.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Ah, ok... but, outside certain industries like financial trading, even that is a good salary.

Cars are just expensive things!

[Hells Bells]

Originally Posted by raul

Either we are getting paid poorly or the car companies are taking us for a ride.

I believe it is neither. It is simply PPP (purchasing power parity) which is a macroeconomic issue. Hence, simply converting the currency values is over-simplifying the issue...the economists will be mortified by this On a lighter note, yes, I AM UNDERPAID!!!! :P

Cheers (and sorry for going off-the-topic)

[raul]

Hey Hells Bells, The calculations I made with average pay and the fraction it would require to buy a car is actually quite similar to how PPP is calculated so the economists won't be mortified, Thats how economist calculate PPP though with a different basket of products and not a car. There is an excellent article on Wikipedia.

[kbk_75]

There's no doubt that all cars in India cost a lot more than they do abroad, chiefly due to the Government's tax system, but the point is that up to a point, some cars are fairly good VFM. For instance, the Accords, Mondeos, Sonatas, Octavias are not priced all that much above what they would cost in a country like the UK.

Then suddenly you have companies like BMW and Mercedes totally buggering-up the prices of cars by charging HUGE premiums for what are very ordinary, entry-level exec saloons. To be honest, there's no way a 325i is worth more than 28-29 lakhs, even considering the taxes, duties et al, but look at what they are charging for it. It's simple...they are ripping off customers because between them (Merc, Audi, BMW) they have more or less got a cartel going to charge more than what they fairly should.

This then has a knock-on effect, so VW and it's affiliate Skoda charge a large premium for their higher-end models as well (to fill the 20-30 lakh vaccuum). Sad.

[Nattusbs]

IMO the important thing is branding. Luxury comes at a price, a status symbol. Benz, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover want to maintain that image. These companies want to sell cars, but, not a huge volume on their high end cars, rather have higher margins on them.

So there are 2 reasons for the higher price of these cars in India:

1. Higher taxes since they are imported.
2. Luxury image - branding, status.

Cheers

Nattusbs

Note: I actually own a Benz and a Land Rover here in southern California

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by kbk_75

There's no doubt that all cars in India cost a lot more than they do abroad, chiefly due to the Government's tax system, but the point is that up to a point, some cars are fairly good VFM. For instance, the Accords, Mondeos, Sonatas, Octavias are not priced all that much above what they would cost in a country like the UK. .

I beg to defer, in the UK

Accords cost about 18000 pound - nearly 16L
Mondys cost around 15000 pounds but you can get huge discounts and walk out paying 12 lakhs. similarly Octys
Sonata's are given away with Zimmerframe

[lurker]

No Ford brand is cheap to maintain, whenever one visits the service centre expect to pay up a large chunk of your monthly budget towards inflated hourly 'labor charges' and inflated spare parts. I wonder why Indians suck up to such a brand ?

In India this a mid level executive would be making 14-25 lakhs per annum, a young professional 8-16 lakhs, this would be once or twice your yearly salary.

this scale is only in IT sector.

[Kontoo]

Hmmm,
Nice car. Really nice seats..sporty yet elegant. VW could have done with a better rear for the car.
I am waiting for the "Golf" to be launched in India.
Kontoo

[iraghava]

Some pictures I took over the weekend:

[speedy]

nice pictures ishan