Interesting Question.
The base car without VAT is £54,162.50. I am sure I would add some options like 15” Polished Wire Wheels for £3,100.00 (with VAT) and possibly paint, trim roof etc. I know based on the 2017 price list I got a Morgan +4 from $108K to $134K so pretty easy to get it to add up but hopefully the CX come with more features standard and I only reach say £60,000.00 without VAT which is $107,000 then that gives the following
Car = $107,000
Shipping + Insurance = $5,000 (my guess - I paid $2,900 in 2002 for my Silvia from Japan)
Customs brokerage fees = $2,000 (my guess - I paid $1650 in 2002 for my Silvia)
Customs and AQIS fees = $500 (depends on how clean the car is as AQIS charge $350 to steam clean a car they think might have bugs hidden in it)
Duty at 5% = $5,350
GST = $11,735 (10% of car, Shipping/Insurance + Duty)
LCT = $18,103 (33% of (car + Shipping/Insurance + Duty + GST - Threshold of $68,740) * 10/11)
ADR Compliance = $5,000 (I paid $3,500 in 2002 but really the dealer should be doing it so that would affect the costs)
Total = $149,338
However I have talked to both the importer of my Silvia and Chris Van Wyk (the Morgan Dealer in Melbourne) and both said to get a car complied in Australia as a low volume importer a car must be provided to crash test for ADR's with a cost of the car plus $100,000 for the tests. If that is true then that will cost about $250,000. Assuming a new dealer wants to recover that over 10 cars then that adds $25,000 to the cost of each car, they really have to guess how many they are likely to sell. It also is a risk the car will not pass and then that is just money down the drain and the cars can not be sold, so basically a business that has failed pretty quickly.
Also the dealer wants to make money and cover expenses.
Assuming they expect to sell 10 cars a year and are happy with breaking even the first year and then making a profit of $25,000 a car afterwards that would give a cost for each car of about $175,000. Then on road costs which is about $5,000 in the ACT based on the stamp duty, registration etc. making it a $180,000 car.
Comparing the Morgan +4 I wanted in 2018 based on 2017 pricelist of $134,000 to $180,000 I think the CX Plus 4 would be better value, the jump is not as much as I would expect . Probably less increase between say a +110 +4 to a XC plus 4 in the UK. I am sure I have underestimated something and that would probably be the cost of having the car changed for ADR's once here. I expect shipping has gone down a bit with bigger ships dedicated to carrying cars but then UK to Aus is further than from Japan.
Talking to Marlene (Chris Van Wyk's wife who worked for BMW before starting the dealership with Chris) in 2018 she said the number of cars imported just covers the costs, she doubts once she and Chris retires anyone would want to take over the business as there is not enough volume to make a good living from it. Now sure if that is 100% true but that is what she said. I do notice the website is still up and I expect people are still buying spare parts though them.
If someone really wanted one they would need to talk to
https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/vehicles/imports/ about getting a permit before doing anything else. I would be interested to see if anyone could get a permit for a CX Plus 4 but I am not sure what regulations they would be using (I expect the buy it and drive it in the UK for over 12 months rule might be the easiest to meet). I hope so it would be great to see one on the road here, also they hopefully can get away without crash testing if a private importer.
