It’s said that Australians are in love with luxury cars and especially European luxury cars. Last year, 120,000 varied European luxury cars, including Mercedes Benz, Maserati or Porsche, have been added to the 1.1 million new vehicles on Australian roads.
Several Australian car market studies show that in 2015 more than one in ten new cars sold was a luxury vehicle. It is the highest entrance of luxury models ever in Australia – almost double of 2000 figures coming into Australia where models were mainly locally produced.
Nowadays Australians are more likely to buy and import luxury cars. According to the social commentator David Chalke, “Australians buy luxury cars because they have always loved cars and because they are amongst richest people on the face of the planet.” Another reason may be that luxury cars have the best technologies in terms of safety and fuel saving.
The luxury car market is still growing. New luxury brands such as Tesla are coming in the market and traditional luxury brands are developing their portfolios with new models and technologies. Mercedes Benz for instance has announced it will produce a ute from 2018.
With the relaxation of the Australian car import restrictions coming in 2018, more UK luxury cas will arrive to Australia as UK cars are compliant with Australian regulations. Moreover, when importing a car to Australia from UK you can benefit of VAT recovery (20% off) and save money. Discover more about car shipping from the UK on our dedicated page.
Zoom on the Luxury Car Tax (LCT):
Since 1979, luxury cars in Australia are subject to a luxury tax: the LCT. When the tax was introduced it targeted a small part of the market (2.5%). However, nowadays, more than one in ten new cars is taxed of up to 33% on vehicles costing more than $63,184.
The industry has lobbied against LCT for years and now it’s expected to be removed soon.
Some discussions are also taking place between Australia and the European Union to introduce a free trade agreement, which would abolish the 5% import tariff on many cars sold in Australia. As part of those discussions the E.U has requested the abolition of the LCT.
Car makers argue that no luxury items (jewellery, private jet…) attract a luxury tax and that this tax slows down the introduction of innovative safety and fuel saving technologies in Australia.
Read more about the LCT here!
Australians favourite luxury car brands:
However, even if the tax is still in place, Australians continue to buy some luxury cars. Here some of their favourite luxury car brands:
- Mercedes Benz
- Maserati
- BMW
- Audi
- Ferrari
- Rolls Royce
- Lamborghini
- Porsche