Dave Mericle's post: Pricing a 156 in USA

[Simon Montagu <simon.montagu@domain.elided>]

Thanks to Dave Mericle for his recent post (V7 #987). He makes a 
number of excellent points and while it saddens me to think that he's 
probably right about the attitudes of Alfa/Fiat execs regarding the 
US market, he's probably right!

There is one point in particular that Dave raises that I think would 
make for a useful thread: *just how much would a 156 sell for in the 
US*

Dave's price of at least $30K seems a little on the high side to me. 
As a "resident alien" Australian, I routinely track car prices back 
in Australia, comparing the US/Australia differential. Over the 
years, I've developed a rule of thumb that on a straight price 
comparison, Australian car buyers pay twice as much as those in the 
US.

With Dave's comments in mind, I've done a little leg work to see if I 
can actually quantify this "index" and it seems I'm not far off. 
Comparing the prices of a number of vehicles available to both US and 
Australian consumers, I get an average price ratio of about 0.53 (US 
prices to Aust. prices).

So, using this number as an index, the US dollar prices of an Alfa 
156 or GTV (at least those models available on the Australian market) 
would work out something like this:

156 4 dr Sedan TWIN SPARK 		$24,916
156 4 dr Sedan TS SELESPEED		$26,508
156 4 dr Sedan 2.5 V6 Q SYSTEM AUTO	$31,815
GTV 2 dr Coupe TWIN SPARK '99		$32,897
GTV 2 dr Coupe V6 '99			$42,190

While I believe Dave is right in that it might be more than it's 
worth for Alfa to try and educate the broader (i.e. non-alfisti) US 
market about the history and virtues of their product, get me a 156 
with Selespeed for around 26,500 and I can guarantee at least one 
sale!. I also think it's worth making the analogy with Apple 
Computer's recent resurgence. Consumer ignorance about Apple's 
innovative history and superior technology (does my bias show!) has 
not stopped them from buying iMacs in record numbers. To a certain 
extent, good looks sell: people are buying iMacs for the color/style, 
not just Apple's name. I think Alfa might sell more than would 
otherwise be expected simply because they have a line of sleek and 
beautiful cars that stand out from the hum-drummery of today's 
current line ups.

- --end of rant!

For those of you interested in the details, I've posted a spreadsheet 
of the numbers at the following URL
	http://www.muohio.edu/~MontagAS/alfa/ad.html

Australian prices are from the drive.com.au website, while US prices 
are from the carpoint.com site. The selection of cars is far from 
random: I stuck with makes I knew were available in both markets and 
tried to match models as much as possible. I usually went with the 
lowest trim levels, simply because trim levels are where the greatest 
differences between markets begin to arise. I also chose  makes 
across a wide range of vehicle types (SUVs/coupes/sedans etc) and 
prices.

Interesting footnote to this process was the price ratio for 
Mitsubishi Magna/Diamante: the only Australian made car available in 
both the US and Australian markets. The Diamante has a higher trim 
level than the top of the line Magna, so it's a difficult 
comparative, but even still the price ratio is about 0.72! Mitsubishi 
USA is working over the US consumer on this one!

Sorry for the long post.

Cheers
Simon

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