Just for grins, I built two Cooper S's...1 on the U.S. site, and 1 on the U.K. site. Both were pretty identical, as far as options go. (U.S. packages are different than U.K.)

I was amazed at the difference in price. The U.K. Cooper S ended up being 24,000 pounds ($47,563.00), the U.S. Cooper S was $34,000.00. That is a difference of $13,563.00.

In all fairness, the U.K. price included VAT, which was about $6,000.00, so without VAT, the price difference was about $7,500.00.

So, even though most of us paid MSRP, MINI's are still quite a bit less expensive in the U.S. than they are in the home market.

 

So that data is correct. They are cheaper here.

This comes up a lot and I've never understood the why and how. I understand it's because of the weak dollar, but how does it work for the company? Assuming that the company-wide profit is measured in pounds, how are they not losing out selling in the US and/or ripping off in the UK? I can't think of any other relative measure that consistently makes sense, given that the cost to build is identical in pounds.

Can anybody enlighten us to how global companies work this?

 

From what I understand the price is even higher in Ireland due to higher taxes and such

 

we pay 17.5% tax on everything we buy. everything. i believe that taxes on most goods are far less in the US?

but yeah, it doesn't make sense. it's cheaper to get them on the other side of the atlantic to where they were built, even though your price includes a seriously hefty ferry crossing.

believe me, it's only gonna get worse for us now that gordon brown is running the country.

 

That is rotten..the sales tax in my State is 5%, but many States, such as Delaware have no sales tax. I've never understood why the morons running our respective governments don't realize that sales tax is a regressive tax.

 

It is not just the tax, just about everything is most expansive in England! I remember visiting my cousins there a few years ago, and the restaurants there were so expansive. And the gas price.. ouch. :p Whenever my aunt came to US to visit, we took her to Costco and loaded up her suit cases to go back.

 

Virtually all cars in the UK are more expensive and have been for decades. It's called taking advantage of the punter.

 

Oregon is one of those states without a sales tax. We make up for it with a high income tax. Washington has a sales tax but no income tax.

I'd rather pay 5 cents on the dollar and have a lower income tax. And if we had a sales tax here, at least tourists and others who come to the state would pay their fair share. They get a free ride, as it is.

 

In New Hampshire there is no sales tax or income tax and it is mostly made up by the property tax. I have compared though and our property tax really is not that bad. I bought my car in Massachusetts but because I am a NH resident I still do not have to pay the sales tax.

 

New Hampshire is a great State !

When I lived in Virginia, not only was there 5% sales tax on everything (including groceries & prescription drugs), there was also personal property tax. Each year we had to pay personal property tax on the value of the vehicle. In exchange, we got a nice 2" x 2" tax sticker that was applied to the windshield...along with the 2" x2" inspection sticker. Don't know if they still have this tax, but on a car that has little depreciation, like the MINI, over time could amount to quite a bit of $$