Oops, I forgot to declare my speculations as such.
Well, I stand informed.
The cost of the US operation is probably the biggest factor,
if Europa has decided to not peanut butter the costs across all
kits. Many companies do.
If Europa hasn't, more power to them. Makes the wallet bite less painful
for its European customers.
Still, I do find it amusing that much of my tubing was rolled in Chandler,
AZ but made a 16,000 mile
detour on the way to Oregon. On the other hand, quality control requires a
single control point...
More and more of the kit parts are starting to be drop shipped from their US
suppliers directly to builders.
Aeropoxy, the tire(s), windscreens...
Shaun
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Housman" <ROB-HOUSMAN@worldnet.att.net>
<europa@avnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: US vs UK prices
> Whoa!
>
> According to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (2001)
all
> items in Heading 8801 (the category that includes aircraft and aircraft
> parts) are free of duty (except parachutes, which are charged 3% duty)
> unless arriving from Afghanistan, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, or Vietnam.
>
> While I agree that we pay about US$1,000 for GROUND transportation from FL
> to CA, the container rate by sea will be lower, not higher, for the
entire
> trip from UK to the US west coast.
>
> A better explanation for the difference is that it usually costs a
> manufacturer more to service business in another country, and this
includes
> the risk associated with exchange rate fluctuations. Let's be realistic:
> are the folks in Lakeland working for free? All of Lakeland's costs are
(or
> should be) attached to the US price of the kit. Sure, we could argue that
> the increased size of the market that results from sales in North America
> reduces the average cost of the kit for the entire world, but not by
enough
> to cover the local costs associated with marketing and distribution of the
> kits in North America. Take a wild guess at the cost to maintain the
> Lakeland operation (I'm guessing between $250K and $500K annually) and
> divide that by the number of kits sold here (is it 200 total, not
annually,
> yet?) and the price differential looks about right, or maybe even a bit of
a
> bargain.
>
> Let's be glad that Europa's pricing does not parallel the practices of the
> German car makers. It was not too long ago that the US price of a Porsche
> or Mercedes Benz in US$ was approximately the same as the domestic price
in
> DM (current rate is DM2.31 per US$, but the rate had been around 2.50).
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Rob Housman
> A070
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Shaun Simpkins" <shauns@hevanet.com>
> Subject: Re: US vs UK prices
>
>
> > You have to consider several items.
> >
> > 1. Import duties. This can easily amount to 10%. Consider how much you
> had
> > to pay when you brought that Swiss watch back with you on your last
> European
> > trip.
> >
> > 2. Transatlantic shipping. As a point of reference, the shipping costs
> for
> > US domestic to the West Coast for a full kit is on the order of $1K when
> > containerized with others, so I could see a transatlantic ship cost of
$2K
> > or more.
> >
> > 3. Is the UK price inclusive of VAT? If it isn't, that's 15% right
there
> > (this is very unlikely).
> >
> > Now, what's amusing -or painful- is that a lot of the stuff in the kit
is
> > made in the US.
> >
> > Shaun
> > A207
> >
> > Original Message -----
> > From: <lvackerman@telocity.com>
> > Subject: US vs UK prices
> >
> >
> > > Just a note of interest about UK and US prices.
> > >
> > > Today the exchange rate is 1.407 US $ = 1 UK L.
> > >
> > > Looking at the prices for a monowheel with a 914 turbo
> > > engine:
> > >
> > > Kit 16380 UK L
> > > engine 11920 UK L
> > > Total converted to US $ = $39818
> > > or
> > >
> > > Kit 26250 US $
> > > Engine 19072 US $
> > > Total in SU $ = $45322
> > >
> > > Which results in a difference of $6504 US.
> > > Which is about a 16% difference in price.
> > > The Europa costs that much more in the US vs the UK.
> > > Does this happen because of transportation costs...
> > > Why the large difference?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>
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