lower the tax and more people can afford it and the government still makes the same amount of money. or is that false logic?

They make most of their money from after sales services, such as fixing the cars and providing finance to buyers. On the actual cars they make very little.

ok, but there is not that much to make from a new car with after sales service either. my old civic sold at 2 years old. had 5 x 10,000 kilometer services in the time I had it and the most expensive one was about 7k.

2nd hand car salesmen make more than 50k per car, for sure.

Edited August 24, 200818 yr by onnut

lower the tax and more people can afford it and the government still makes the same amount of money. or is that false logic?

makes sense..... but then you have the added problem of traffic jams. worse than you have now. denmark have something like 90% tax on new cars, and no traffic jams.....

keeping price high on new car does not stop traffic jams - people just drive old cars

lower the tax and more people can afford it and the government still makes the same amount of money. or is that false logic?

makes sense..... but then you have the added problem of traffic jams. worse than you have now. denmark have something like 90% tax on new cars, and no traffic jams.....

It is not false logic. I think they just don’t see it as in the national interest (their interest). All the rich people making these decisions can afford nice cars at current prices. They don’t much care about the convenience of things for the poor or middle class. All the money being sent overseas for the importation of lots more cars and fuel might seriously harm the economy which will impact them and everyone else.

dominique355 – Yeah, even automobiles made in Thailand do seem inferior to similarly priced vehicles in the States in everything from engine size to safety features. I had a 5 liter automatic extended cab full sized Toyota Tundra truck in America with a 7 year/100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty for the price of a Toyota compact truck here.

I’m no auto expert but why can’t trucks be as clean and efficient as cars? Is it because most in Thailand are diesel?

At least near cities, Thailand has way better public transportation than all but a handful of American cities.

Don’t hold your breath for the WTO. It is managed trade for the benefit of the global elite and large corporations. Fair and right don’t enter into the calculation.

What you call Dealers here should in actual fact be called Factory Outlets ,so the figure of 10,000 baht is purely academic probably used to determine salesmans wages and make you feel sorry for them when they quote it.

people keep saying that it will hurt thailand if overseas companies sell cars here but each car they sell and all their profits will still be taxed so what does teh government care? why hasnt overseas companies making money in the usa hurt the us economy?

Imports are bad for the economy as it is a cash leakage, exports are good as they provide a cash injection to the economy. It is not about tax.

keeping price high on new car does not stop traffic jams - people just drive old cars

And where exactly do you think these old cars come from? What do you think will happen to the price of the current old cars once new ones become significantly more expensive?

Thailand is 15 in the World and 4 in Asia automotive industry.

Because of high import taxes and BOI promotion programs

Edited August 24, 200818 yr by Grant

A dealer will only make 10,000 baht on a 1 million baht car here.

Really

I went to look at lancer last month and the slaesman offered me 60,000 off the sticker price after a bit of haggling.

All imported goods in Thailand except fuel cost 2 to 3 times the US price due to import taxes. It is not just autos and motorcycles but food stuffs, alcohol, electronics, clothes, household goods….everything. Free trade is a one way street and America is the shopper’s paradise not Thailand. The only thing cheap in Thailand is stuff made or grown here.

Get over it. It seems outrageous at times but then I remember the $15-20,000 a year I save on medical and auto insurance over American prices and feel better

And cars are a necessity in most of America as everything is spread out with little public transport. Between gas prices and mandatory insurance poor people in America are screwed.

Electronics, mosthly comes from China. Not more expensive than in the states.

Insurances are very cheap overhere

A dealer will only make 10,000 baht on a 1 million baht car here.

Really

I went to look at lancer last month and the slaesman offered me 60,000 off the sticker price after a bit of haggling.

Hence why he is probably only making 10,000 baht , was it an old model? On new models they rarely will give a cash discount as their margins are low, preferring to give away cheap extras.

keeping price high on new car does not stop traffic jams - people just drive old cars

And where exactly do you think these old cars come from? What do you think will happen to the price of the current old cars once new ones become significantly more expensive?

Old cars gonna more expensive. This happen already. 10 years ago i bought a 95, 3 door Handa Civic automatic for 245'k. Today still the same price. 3 years ago i bought a 96 VW Passat for about 140'k. Today they are listed about 180 - 215'k. 3 years ago i bought old 89 Honda Accords automatic allways about 75'k. Today the same cars cost about 100'k

These are just examples.

They make most of their money from after sales services, such as fixing the cars and providing finance to buyers. On the actual cars they make very little.

ok, but there is not that much to make from a new car with after sales service either. my old civic sold at 2 years old. had 5 x 10,000 kilometer services in the time I had it and the most expensive one was about 7k.

2nd hand car salesmen make more than 50k per car, for sure.

I's depent on what price. If it's a 3 year old second hand beamer, i'm agree. If it's a old 150'000 Baht car, its not more than 20'k.

New cars about 5 to 7 % of the sales price. Depend on brand.

A dealer will only make 10,000 baht on a 1 million baht car here.

Really

I went to look at lancer last month and the slaesman offered me 60,000 off the sticker price after a bit of haggling.

Thats because Mitsubishi are still trying to fob off an old model(the underpinings must go back to early-mid 90's)on you and the rest of Thai population, when the rest of the world have had a totally new car probably for over 1year. Which highlights the way Thailand can be used as the dumping ground for old technology when you have a restricted market for the majority.

KARTMAN

I once checked the BMW international website and found some interesting stats. A BMW 7 series with a V8 motor costs [ in US dollars] $86,000 in the USA, $135,000 in Germany or Italy, $170,000 in the Nederlands and $425,000 in Thailand. In Thailand a six cylinder BMW 7 series costs 8.5 million Baht, the 8 cylinder version is 14.5 million and the 12 cylinder is 18.5 million. I remember seeing a Porsche turbo at the Bangkok auto show four years ago that was 20 million Baht! The reason for this is the progressive horsepower/engine size tax levied by different countries. This is one of the reasons [ in addition to low fuel cost, low income taxes and wider city streets] that Americans drive so many big luxury V8 gas hogs.

Of course the tax % also depends on if the vehicle is made in Thailand or totally imported.

The vehicles with the lowest taxes in Thailand are Thai made pick-ups or city cars like the Honda city which are about the same price as in the USA only with less safety features.

Cheers,

Miami Bob

just curious, what do you expect the depreciation will be on the 2.9m Honda Accord mentioned in this thread in x years?

"It is a real joke here the cars sold in Thailand are only made for here, they can not be sold in Europe because of the safety issues"

Which safety tests do they fail in?

About half of Thailand's cars and trucks are exported.

>>>

BMW/Benz build their cars here from imported components. It's cheaper than importing whole cars but not by much. Japanese produce most of the components locally. There's a 90% threshold to qualify for lower taxes, I believe. Europeans do not want to invest in that, for various reasons.

>>>

Eco car is the answer to l"ow taxes+more customers=more revenue" idea.

The margin mentioned on new cars is WAY off, but I can only speak for what I know from a particular Honda, Isuzu, and Mercedes dealership. The margins aren't insane crazy, but they are certainly better than the 1% mentioned.

my source could be wrong, what % have you been told?

those who can afford to to live in central bangkok already have a car lowering taxes wont increase traffic

poor people live in rural areas

Electronics, mosthly comes from China. Not more expensive than in the states.

Only the very low end electronic that no one in the west would buy..

Check any mid fi or high end gear.. WAY more expensive here.. Check the prices on 50 inch and up LCD's 3x the price of the US.. Check the prices on home theater projectors and the like..

Electronics, mosthly comes from China. Not more expensive than in the states.

Only the very low end electronic that no one in the west would buy..

Check any mid fi or high end gear.. WAY more expensive here.. Check the prices on 50 inch and up LCD's 3x the price of the US.. Check the prices on home theater projectors and the like..

Exactly. Cheap crap is dirt cheap. Higher quality goods are not.

It sucks at times but I don’t think it is bad policy generally speaking.

my source could be wrong, what % have you been told?

I've seen anywhere from between 8% to lower 40's (%) (just about anything sold by SEC, and on a number of models @ Benz Thonglor for example).