Featured Subaru slashes prices on Solterra, Uncharted by thousands to become rebate eligible

$30,400ish in USD?

 

What a dizzying list, all the little extra bites.

 

Toyota introduced the bZ3 in China last year at about $15K USD equivalent. Toyota got 10K preorders. So why are we paying ~40+K and aren't BYDs available over there? More bang for the geese (hatchlings)......
Used low mileage Solterra's are half the price of new; even here @ $5/gallon.

 

cars are priced for the market where they are being sold, the bZ3 in US is competitively priced for the US market- one of the current best values in the EV market in USA - great vehicle

 

The bZ3 is a joint venture with BYD. Part of the reason for the low price.

I think the bZ in the US is just a new name for the bZ4X, a SUV. The bZ3 is a sedan.

 

I believe your right my terminology was wrong, thanks.

 

Isn't the cost to manufacture the same; some adjustments for shipping and country law compliance; but more than double the price??? We're not talking about just a few hundred dollars. Manufacturers don't make things to lose money.- so all that fluff is going somewhere.
The more people/obstacles that's placed between a manufacturer and the dealership - the higher the unit cost. That's why Tesla wants to sell directly to the public and bypass all the middle men. Somebody needs to pay the additional cost.and it isn't going to be the manufacturers; though some fools thinks that's how it works...

 

Why does the same car cost $23,000 more in the UK? — Institute of Economic Affairs

"More significant than logistics in determining final prices are a set of frictional costs in the form of border taxes, sales taxes and registration taxes. The former are particularly prevalent in the other major car-producing markets such as the US and Europe. Until midway through 2024, an importer paid 27.5% to import a Chinese-made electric vehicle into the US, 10% to import it into the UK and Germany, and 35% to import it into Brazil. Some of these jurisdictions, such as the UK and Germany, then charge additional sales taxes, that are up to 10% higher than China’s."
"For all its flaws, the creation of a globalised economy has been a formidable efficiency machine for companies like BMW and the consumers they serve. Frictional costs steal that efficiency back from both company margins and consumer prices. In the current era of increased protectionism and tariffs, it seems likely we will have plenty of reason to reflect on the $23,000 question."


The Global Auto Market: Why Vehicle Costs Vary Dramatically Between Countries – Inisumedang.com

a suggested follow up question is:
why do wages vary so much from country to country or even by regions in the same country?

 

Then why isn't Tesla the low priced supplier based on buyer's cost?

Access to critical manufacturing inputs, labor costs including current and future benefits, supply chain distances, home market favoritism, cost of capital, subsidies, investors expected returns, local requirements for future repair parts availability ... they all contribute to costs.

 

Then there are lemon laws in USA that require costs to be baked in for those actuarial instances. Stronger lemon laws in many US states give more leverage for repeated problems (potential buybacks or replacements after a threshold of repair attempts/days out of service). Ultimately those costs are born by new car purchasers.

 

For a period of time more progressive car laws did actually result in manufacturers using standardized parts, for much longer (remember when GM made transmissions that would fit a wide range of vehicles over a 30 year period)
That is due to a combination of the magnuson moss law and the 20 year “recall window ”

The “cost” of these consumer protection laws did actually result in manufacturers improving quality and improving “right to repair “ by making parts more plentiful.

At least for a long time, enforcement has actually been made stupid inconsistent this century watering down right to repair.
Many components that had 50 year expected marketability are now well under 10 which is unworkable,
This has resulted in most automatic transmission (not single speed or planetary) vehicles with a turbo made post 2016 as unownable, unmaintainable, throw away garbage, while also being very expensive.

if .gov were doing its job the $3500 headlight housings, bespoke non-rebuildable $12000 transmissions, the instabreak engines and 50 cent plastic front ends that cost $3500+ to replace would not exist as happened before with seal beams , 5mph bumpers , finite Fla battery group sizes.

gotta remember seal beams exist and 5mph re-usuable bumpers existed because the auto industry degraded into the ideotic place it’s in now before making repair costs too high and too slow.

To get the auto industry into the place it needs to be to survive appears to require.gov to force standardization and part lifecycles again as they apparently can’t do so on their own. .gov crash, test, and epa related platform laws royally screwed the pooch making automakers make very bad decisions which need to be reversed.

 

LOL
reminds me of watching a guy with a messed up rear injector on his ¾ ton Silverado. Clearances so tight he can't get to it without pulling the cab off! Yea - how many shade tree mechanics at home have a setup capable of doing that.

 

Sorry; the only thing that local automotive manufacturer has learned; is they can royalty screw-up and expect a government bailout. They use non-standardized parts to keep customers within their eco-system; ditto with repair manuals. They have a choice to do whatever they want; but rather than being globally competitive; they lobby for protectionism. Substandard garbage that barely keeps up with global standards and expectations. Even large corporations has slowly started allowing foreign car brands into their fleets. They are no longer just the big 3 car brands; because cost of ownership is higher.

 

not all manufactures are like that...

Toyota which has more US manufacturing facilities than you can count standardizes many parts across all their models..

KIA and Hyundai which have absolutely enormous manufacturing plants in the southeast USA standardize parts across their models and brands - it is an engineering requirement, you can buy a single oil filter from KIA or Hyundai - it doesn't matter- and it will fit all their models, both brands - this is common with most parts. Whenever I source a part for our KIA or Hyundai I source it from both Hyundai and Kia to see which sells it for a lower price - it is easy to do as they even use the same part numbers across their models and brands...

these are just two examples ..sure there are many more - its just good business practice.

 

That's why they will survive - you notice the common theme? Who's the current owners of those brands? Those companies you mention isn't going to get a US government bailout and they operate with that in mind.