How many tyres do you think they bring into the country at a time? 1 container? 50 ? 100 ?
Do you reckon? I've got no idea myself, but I'd be surprised if Aus really is that big a consumer of things like specialist 4WD tyres. We just don't have the population that's that far into it. I think that's part of the "problem" with things costing so much more here, especially when you get into a niche item like serious 4WD accessories. Lets face it - the majority of 4WD's sold won't go offroad, and of the set that DO, I'd go out on a limb to say that most people won't really care that much about tyres. Sure, we all do, but again this is a pretty niche forum to start with.
Figures from Jan 2012 - 42,555 Passenger Vehicles sold new, against 22,123 "SUV"s sold new. So 4WD owners are already in the minority. Contrast that to the US, where someone like BFG makes 3 or 4 different types of 38" MT tyre to suit the specific different applications (desert racing, rock crawling, mudding, etc) and still manage to sell as many of them as they can make.
Your points are valid though - the local BFG distributor will (or at least should) be getting a better price that the rack rate that you or I buy from the US. And they will be getting a better deal on shipping and transport. Once you take into account the longer supply chain (import company, national distributor, state distributors, additional transport to dealers, dealer's themselves) I'd be surprised if that advantage wasn't eaten up by everyone adding on their cut.
But at the end of the day "they are charging what the market will accept" is spot on. If everyone stopped buying Coopers or BFGs, they drop the price to stimulate the demand. It's the same reason that iPads/iPhones are expensive, and the same reason that milk is now under $1/L. It's not bad, it's just how the world works.
I would really be interested to know how many tyres are bought into the country though. Might have to do some digging - you've peaked my interest Silvo!
"BJ Imports" - would you buy tyres from them?
Cheers!
Matto
(Ahh - beaten by Jules' reply which basically says the same thing without the waffling
)
