Since 2020, Ford F-150, Chevrolet Solod, Toyota Tantu, GMC Sierra and other American full-size pickup trucks have been upgraded and introduced, and some of them are expected to enter domestic sales. Whenever a new car is released in the US market, domestic consumers will lament the low price of cars on the other side of the ocean and the high price of imported cars in China. Taking pickup trucks as an example, the price range of full-size pickup trucks in the US market is 30,000-90,000 US dollars, the price of entry-level tool models is equivalent to about 200,000 yuan, and the price of top-end luxury editions or performance off-road products is equivalent to about 580,000 yuan. The price of these products into the country will basically double, such as the most popular Ford Raptor, the official guidance price of about 500,000, but the actual price of the terminal has exceeded 1 million.
Taxes and fees are the main reason for the increase in the cost of buying a car for imported pickup trucks and other imports
Taxes are one of the main reasons why domestic imported cars are expensive. As the world's largest developing country, China's automotive industry is relatively backward in development, in order to protect the healthy development of the domestic automobile industry, the mainland has set a higher import tax on imported cars. Import vehicle tax includes customs duties, consumption tax (displacement tax), value-added tax, under the restrictions on the provisions of the vehicle import tariff has been reduced from 25% to 15%, vat is currently 13%, consumption tax according to the displacement of the minimum of 1% (1.0L and below), the maximum 40% (4.0L or more).
The customs duty calculation method is the dutiable price × the customs duty rate, and the dutiable value is the price of an imported car that has just arrived at the port and has not yet paid the tax, that is, the sale price of the car abroad. Taking the new 2022 Ford Raptor as an example, the car starts at $64,145 in North America, which is equivalent to 406685 yuan according to the current exchange rate, and the tariff to be paid is 406685 million yuan×15% = 61,002 yuan. Imported pickup trucks are imported according to the category of trucks, so they do not need to pay consumption tax, which can save a huge displacement tax compared to imported passenger cars.
The VAT calculation method is (dutiable value + customs duty + consumption tax) × vat rate, and the vat on the import of the new Ford Raptor is (406685 + 61002) ×13% = 60799 yuan. After adding tariffs, the import cost of the new Ford Raptor is the dutiable value (406685 yuan) + tariff (61002 yuan) + value-added tax (60799 yuan) = 528486 million yuan. Users also have to pay 10% purchase tax when buying a car, with the taxable price as the invoice price, the overall cost of the new Ford Raptor is 581334 yuan, plus dealer profits, insurance premiums, license fees, mortgage fees, and other miscellaneous fees, the purchase price is conservatively estimated to reach more than 650,000, an increase of more than 50%, and the actual price increase is even greater.
The overall automobile consumption tax rate in the United States is low, most states in the United States do not have to pay purchase tax, and the consumption tax rate is also very low, and there is no so-called displacement limit. In terms of import tariffs, in addition to countries with free trade agreements with the United States, the tariff on imported automobiles in the United States is only 2.5%, and countries such as Canada and Mexico that have signed free trade agreements with the United States do not have import tariffs.
Market differentiation has exacerbated the trend of rising prices of imported pickup trucks
Market differences are also the main reason for the high price of imported pickup trucks, the Chinese market is not a typical pickup truck market, imported pickup trucks appear as high-end performance cars, luxury cars, high-end positioning naturally gives higher added value to automotive products, but also for dealers to increase the price to provide more space. In addition, the supply side of China's high-end pickup truck market is basically in a blank state, the competitive pressure is very small, the market is basically completely controlled by imported products, the lack of competition is naturally difficult to compress the premium space, and there is no need for sellers to reduce prices in order to grab orders.
Although China's high-end pickup truck market is basically blank on the supply side, the consumer side is extremely active, and China, as the world's largest automobile consumer market, has a very strong demand for high-end imported pickup trucks. However, the limited number of marketable imported pickup truck products, coupled with the impact of factors such as China VI, led to a general backlog of demand, so the price of best-selling models such as Ford Raptor increased sharply in the state of supply imbalance, coupled with scalper malicious hoarding speculation, resulting in imported pickup trucks being given a certain value-added significance and becoming auto wealth management products.
In addition to the difference in market positioning, the difference in the way cars are sold in China and the United States is also one of the reasons why imported pickup trucks look expensive. The way to sell pickup trucks in the US market is to provide basic models, paint color, central control screen size, tire size, wheel style, intelligent configuration, etc. are selected by consumers themselves and purchase different optional bags. Therefore, most of the prices we see in the US market are the basic price of the configuration level, that is, the starting price, and the actual final landing price depends on the consumer's choice.
Domestic automobile sales habits are distinguished by configuration versions, whether it is a domestic model or an imported pickup truck, its functional configuration is preset by the manufacturer and dealer before selling, and there is very little room for consumers to choose mediation. In order to improve the profit margin and pricing space of the whole vehicle, manufacturers and dealers will tend to add more additional configurations to improve the profit margin of the whole vehicle.
The new Ford Raptor Chinese edition is coming, whether it can achieve the freedom of car purchase
On November 26, 2021, Ford China officially released the news that the new Raptor is about to land in China in the form of a Standard import, and pre-sales are expected to begin in the first quarter, and the news that the new Raptor Version is about to land in China has aroused widespread concern among fans. Since the upgrading of National VI emissions and the entry of raptor into the replacement cycle, the domestic Ford Raptor has fallen into a serious shortage of goods, resulting in a rising price of Medium-sized models and parallel imported products, and now the new Ford Raptor parallel import price has reached about 1.05 million, approaching the Shelby F-150.
The arrival of the new Ford Raptor Chinese version is regarded as a key force in repairing the market situation, and a large number of official direct products can effectively combat the phenomenon of high pricing and help Chinese consumers achieve freedom to buy cars, for which I think the high pricing phenomenon of Ford Raptor will continue. First of all, Ford's production capacity has been insufficient since the epidemic, F-150 Lightning, Maverick, the new Ranger and other models have repeatedly stopped production or suspended the phenomenon of accepting orders due to production capacity problems, and the new Raptor as a high-profit top flagship model is also insufficient. There are doubts about how much for Ford can provide for the Chinese market, where many pickup trucks are sold, and ford China may need to survive for two to three years with a small number of products.
If the number of central imported products with controllable prices is limited, it will be difficult to suppress the phenomenon of high prices of parallel imported models, and as long as the supply and demand relationship cannot be restored to balance, it will inevitably produce a situation of no market. If Ford can provide enough supply for the Chinese market, then the overall price reduction in the market will not be very large, the overall price of the Ford Raptor has been speculated, with a very considerable profit margin, how can dealers be willing to give up the opportunity to make money, unless Ford China stipulates that the price is limited or direct sales on the official website. However, even if it is direct sales, it is difficult to resist the pervasive resource monopoly of scalpers and car dealers, and dealers are basically not willing to give up high profit margins, so the era of importing raptors at the original price or parity is basically gone.
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Year-on-year growth of nearly 40%! Sales of automatic pickup trucks for the full year of 2021