Land of the Free: Americans pay least for a new Rolls-Royce
Think a Rolls-Royce Phantom is expensive? Well, yeah...it is. One of the most expensive on the market, as a matter of fact. (Hey, it's a Rolls-Royce. What did you expect?) But if you think the Phantom is expensive on the American market, you should take a look at what it costs elsewhere in the world.
Our new friends over at Automobiles De Luxe have compiled what they're calling "the Phantom Index", taking the example of "the Big Mac Index" from The Economist and carrying the formula through to the most bling-tastic of motor saloons.
You might be surprised that the Phantom is cheapest to buy in the United States, undercutting the equivalent price of the same automobile in the United Kingdom and in the European Union by over a hundred thousand dollars. Not that such concerns would factor into the equation for most buyers of a new Rolls-Royce, mind you... perish the thought.
[Source: Automobiles De Luxe]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SOhp101 2:22PM (4/30/2007)
Yeah, almost everything here relating to cars is cheaper here in the US, so no surprise.
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RoadRunnerSTi 2:26PM (4/30/2007)
Now if only I could afford one in the first place.... once I'm outta college though. lol
I agree with the posters in the link that it would have been interesting to see Australia, Russia, and China included in the comparo.
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Hamud 2:56PM (4/30/2007)
I guess the comparo is flawed. You can't make the currency exchange. People from countries with other currencies than US dolar won't buy the car in US dolars, they'll buy it in the local currency.
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Mark 3:54PM (4/30/2007)
I don't get why this is so interesting to find out. The United States and Japan are the two cheapest countries in the world to buy imported cars, because there are very little taxes and import tariffs on vehicles. In the Eurozone, you are paying upwards of 20% tax, among other things.
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Tiernan OToole 3:52PM (4/30/2007)
Hamud: the price in US is the equivalent in the local market. In Euro, if i were to buy that car at its US price, i would get it at EUR244K, about 84k less then in Europe. Mind you, its more in Ireland because of VRT (Vehicle Registration Tax) which would be about 30% (since the car is over 1900cc).
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Hamud 4:04PM (4/30/2007)
#4 I see this way: If an average Joe wants to buy a car that costs 20K USD in the USA and costs 15K euros in Europe. If he gets paid in euros, lets say 3k/month, and he can only place 500 as a monthly payment, he then would have to pay the car for 30 months. If the same guy gets the same payment in the USA he would have to pay the car for 40 month...
I always use Brazil as an example, a brand new car here wont go bellow 25K R$ with pretty much nothing on it (power windows/mirrors, door locks, etc). For the same 25K USD I could get a brand new car in the USA with pretty much everything. Then consider that an average Joe gets better paid in the USA than in Brazil, so, 25K USD for an average Joe in the USA means less than 25K R$ means for an average Joe in Brazil.
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Richard 8:29PM (4/30/2007)
That's hardly surprising, considering the beating that the US dollar has taken lately. What is surprising is that more import companies aren't jacking the price up as the dollar buys less and less on the world market.
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