Unfortunately we are living in a world where regulations are becoming more intrusive however that is not unique to the EU. Look at the problems Morgan had getting the 3 wheeler to pass the Australian Design Rules (the "moustache", changed indicator position, etc.), look at how the Australian Luxury Car Tax the effects most Morgans, in fact it seems that it is likely that the Plus 6 will not be available in Australia because of the high cost of compliance and the limited number that will be sold after the application of the LCT increases the price. There is absolutely no reason why Australia could not accept that EU, or UK homologation, could be valid for Australia but the regulators have decided that Australia needs their own parallel, but slightly different rules.
I agree, cars in Australia could be a lot cheaper if we could accept the safety testing standards of other countries. Does anyone remember the Toyota MR2 Spyder from around 2002? In Japan they made both manual and an automatic, when Toyota planned to sell the car in Australia the authorities told Toyota that each variant of the car they want to sell has to be crash tested. Crash testing costs a lot of money and obviously the car is useless afterwards. Toyota had planned to sell both manual and Auto but was not sure the model would sell well enough to justify the cost of crashing two cars, as the Mazda MX5 was only available as a Manual Toyota decided that maybe the Automatic version would sell to people who want a small RWD convertible but don't like manuals so they only crashed the automatic and only sold the automatic.
I met a guy who was buying three year old Toyota MR2's and manual gearboxes from Japan and converting the cars. He told me that due to no manuals available in Australia there was a market for people who wanted the better handling of a mid engined car and something different to the MX5 so he just converts them and sells them second hand. He said the conversion is not that hard to do. (I do find it odd that second hand cars can be altered and sold OK)
Yes LCT also adds a lot to the cost of cars. Cars that use 7.0L/100km and under pay 33% tax on the price above $75,000, cars above 7L/100km pay 33% above $60,000. LCT is worked out after other duties and taxes. I was told by the Morgan dealer in Melbourne that the 4/4 and +4 both meet the 7/L100km rule so use the $75,000 threshold. Even so my guess is LCT adds about $7,000 to a new Morgan +4 and $23,000 to the Roadster.
There was talk about removing LCT once the car industry closes down, well now it has happened but we still have LCT. I would think there is also a valid argument for getting rid of Australian Design Rules and the mandatory crash testing seeing we no longer have a car industry to protect. I expect that adds significantly to the cost of a Morgan and other low volume manufacturers.
