Hi Guys,
The argument of what Australian product costs here against the US comes up all the time in so many industries. Usually by the time you take freight etc into account, there is not much difference. Rocky Road Outfitters (first supplier in a Google search) will sell me an LC locker for $835 and their cost to Australia is $250 to freight it. I am sure there are better deals but a locker is heavy and therefore expensive to freight. What is excess baggage? $35/kilo or so.
There is also a different scale of economies between the US and here. Remember there is 300 million of them and 22 million of us. Example, last year the total Australian auto market was about a million vehicles and in the US they sold about 585,000 F Series trucks alone! The aftermarket business in the US is massive and unlike here in the US they sell about 50/50 cars and trucks. I am sure if you placed an order for 50,000 lockers that ARB would give you a better price than ordering 10.
My 2 cents worth.
Tony.
I may be wrong here but I think local manufacturers get incentives and breaks on product they export.