We had to have this penalty to ensure our own locally manufactured cars got a look in. Now that we no longer make cars, the only reason for keeping these taxes is to bolster government revenue. XXX. Even so, dealer markups and service fees are a large part of cascading costs. As is the ubiquitous fuel tax. XXX. It's a bit like old MacDonald's farm. Except here an animal and another breed etc.! It's here a tax, there a tax. Here a fee, there a fee, there an excise, there an excise, here a duty, there a duty, here a service charge, here a service charge. I'm reliably informed there are over forty taxes that to a greater or lesser degree, impact on the price of a loaf of bread. This is what one can expect when our economy is over-reliant on immigration, services and a few holes in the ground. With absolutely no plans to do anything more than selling the joint to the Chinese. I like and admire most Chinese even married one of them. It's not the race or ethnicity that disturbs me. Just the leadership and a mad desire to not only rule the world but to own it and the peoples in it. Anyhow, you won't have to worry too long David, we'll all soon b driving affordable Chinese cars!? XXX. Alan B.

“Australians love their cars” is a real cliche if ever there was one. Who says Australians love four-wheeled lumps of metal and plastic designed for transport? There are many reasons for owning a car, but love sure ain't one of them. There is something seriously wrong with anyone loving an inanimate object. That the word 'love’ is even used in relation to a car spells out how scatty and immature some people are. There are too many cars. Too many cars in one household. Too many cars driven by incompetents, by drunks and druggies. Car drivers kill more people than people with guns do. We don't make the things in Australia any more - perhaps the love wasn't strong enough.

“Given how much they are taxed, regulated and fined, it is remarkable that Australians are still in love with their cars.”. In other words, people will just go on paying to have their cars, and the political class will keep on charging. Get over it!

As an economy that imports all our cars, they will become more expensive and rationed by the application of tax! And a booming spare parts industry and repair shops. And a situation we can only expect to worsen, as we become more and more reliant on services and immigration to grow the economy. It's mad hatter's tea party economics. I pay you to open the door for me and you pay me to open it for you? Or we mine export or burn coal and more an more o it to try and draw down debt or pay for current imports. And where are the jobs for all these new folk or the infrastructure to serve the two million or so, temporary migrants now swarming as tourists, students and guest workers, as part of a service economy paradigm. As kick the ball Kickovich would say, it makes perfect sense. Alan B.

And Julia Gillards "cash for clunkers" anti-culture scheme, (which saw-not the light of day), as a politicians view of how to make more of the poor, foot soldiers of the rich.

Exactly Diver. Tension. You there, stand up straight and stop fainting in the ranks! It's verboten. Now you scum, you all look like a proper shower or a bag of farts tied up in the middle. Did I say you could smoke, ttbn. What's that? Scotch mist? Put it back you don't know where it's been. About face, By the left quick march. Diver! I said about-face, that's the direction of the cliff! Mind those rocks, don't want to have to clean up after you! Oops! That's my boat Cretin. Now, look what you've done! Who's going to fix that hole? Why can't you look where you are falling! You're always doing something like this! What are you? Some kind of masochistic attention seeker? Alan B.

Sorry ttbn you are wrong on this one.

After living on & with, & sailing my yacht for 19 years, exploring 53,000 nautical miles of the Australian coast & the Pacific islands, I would be strange if I had not developed much affection, & even love for her.

Then after building my Triumph TR7 out of 2 wrecks, & driving her for 16 years, I again would be strange if I had not developed some affection for her. She is a 1980 model, my youngest car is 16 years old.

And David Leyonhjelm, you are also wrong. Many of us drive older cars because the newer things are such piles of junk, we would not waste our money on them. Of the 3 new cars my lady has had in the last 11 years one, the earlier one, was OK, but the last 2 have been more trouble than useful. They are also unpleasant to drive.

Yes they have bluetooth & reversing cameras, & other such muck, but as vehicles they are disgusting. It is going to take a lot more than a reduction in government charges to get me into any of the current crop of automotive white goods.

Speaking for myself here, I've just bought a new car but I delayed buying it for about three years. However, I didn't delay because of the cost of taxes, tariffs, fees and what not but because of the rate of technological improvement. I deliberately waited because cars are improving so fast and becoming cheaper at the same time that by waiting just a few years I have bought a vastly superior car. My new car even drives itself (level 3 automation) something that didn't exist 3 years ago!

If today I owned a car that was say 8 years old I would wait for 7 or so years before buying a new one, because by then level 5 automation (ie: completely self driving) will be commonly available and coming rapidly down in cost also electric cars may finally make economic sense. (At the moment electric cars are just token symbolic gestures for people who want to display green credentials- they currently don't make economic sense. Trust me on this- I know because I personally did the numbers for this just a couple of months ago.)

People need to realise that its mostly only wage and salary owners who most of these taxes. Business may pay them upfront but many taxes are deductible at the end of the financial year.

We also need to ask ourselves where are all these taxes going?

Is it a case of the nations tax burden is being moved away from business while the welfare system is being moved away from individuals to the corporate sector?

Its common knowledge that business pays only token levels of tax.

Are we paying more because they are paying less?

We need to demand the commonwealth govt publish figures showing tax paid by wage and salary earners, by small business and the amount of tax paid by big business.

Referendumdrivensociety, I'm up with all of these comments and sentiments and I would like to tweek your question about us knowing who pays what tax. That is not the immediate problem/issue. The question should be; where is all this tax revenue really going. I realise we are one of the smallest countries in the world and therefore we should not be penalised so harshly. But then I see all these noisy insignificant minorities that somehow convince the powers that be to fund their pathetic and selfish agenda at the expense of the rest of us. Being in the auto design/engineering industry, I was buoyed by the news that car production in Australia was ending. I immediately began emailing ministers and later when they had a review about the car import legislation, I was quick to submit reasons for completely removing any and all import restrictions. Only to find out that the damn used car and spare parts industry lobbied like hell not to remove the restrictions. And of course as usual they have come up with a totally unworkable scenario. Bloody politics is just not needed and I explained why we can remove restrictions. We have the most moronic pedantic laws in the world, so any fears of importing a 'dangerous' car will be picked up at point of registration. I argued that the govt would in fact make more money doing it my way. But you see they are not interested in how much the govt will make, but how much their campaign contributors will make. And so we, the people lose again.

Thinkabit; the price of electric cars is set by GARO !

The Great Australian Ripoff.

Take the Nissan Leaf for example, sells in the US for under US$30k.
Sells in the UK for around A$35k hard to get accurate figure.
It is the largest selling car in Norway, don't know the price.
Must be reasonable or they would not sell in such numbers.

In 2013 it was selling in Australia for $51500, I know because I
canceled an order on one when I heard the price.
Some dealers are still trying to sell them.
They had difficulty at that price.
So when the latest model became available the price was set at $57500 !

Hyundai's iO will be available later this year so it will be
interesting to see if any lessons have been learnt.

Bazz, not a chance. Unless people actually start caring about not wanting to get ripped off anymore, you and I must be the only two people in Aus to actually give a damn. I don't know why people are so lax and just plain not interested. Are they all so wealthy that they can afford to throw away money? I am continually hearing people say how the price of cars has dropped over the years. Compared to what? I can in fact confirm , as you have done, that we are paying waaaaaaay too much for our cars and we are denied the choice of cars as well. The govt only allows imports of cars THEY deem safe. So this must mean that Aus knows more about cars than the rest of the world. What a bunch of hypocrites. We are being treated like mushrooms, fed sh!t and kept in the dark. If that's what the morons of this country want, that's their choice. I don't and demand to be allowed to live my life, free of govt interference. Unfortunately it would require these people to actually rebel once in a while and that would mean they would have to put down that beer and stop watching bloody sports all day. That ain't gonna happen so you and I have to bend over and cop it sweet because the rest of the country are too stupid and lazy to get off their arse to do anything about it. What are they going to do when they've maxed out their cards and run out of money because they've had to pay so much more for everything and either have to cut back or take a cut in lifestyle. Mark my words, at this rate we are heading for a big shift in status. From first world country to second and God forbid, even third world country level. But that's ok these mongrels have got our backs, right?

My new car is huge and phallic.

Like me :)

Plantagenet, what the hell does that mean? Is your point relevant to this discussion? If so what you are attempting to say? If not...........

It not be the age of the Gogo car, per se.

But the monkey behind the wheel, in a subjective sort of way.

Comprehendi muchacho? Aye?

Bazz the price of electric cars in Oz is not a rip off, it is actually below fair & reasonable price with respect to producing & supplying them, because of our tax payer funded subsidies. A huge cost in research & development went into them, which is still not being recouped. They are very expensive things to produce, particularly in the numbers actually wanted by the public.

That number is greatly inflated by our subsidies, & the much greater government subsidies in the other countries you mention.

This is one, & my main objection to electric cars, the idiots in government funding subsides, either for crony capitalism reasons, or because idiots like Turnbull are too dumb to see a con job even when it hits them in the face.

Government should not be in the business of picking winners, or favouring sections of industry. If someone wants an electric car, for whatever reason that is fine, provided they pay the price of owning & running the thing. It should not be up to us taxpayers to help you buy one, or fund the fuel supply for it with charging stations.

I don't know how many would buy an electric car if they had not fallen for the global warming scam, & judging by the low number who took up alternate power options when they personally had extra for it on their bill, I doubt it is very many. It should not be a function of government to subsidise in any way, the sale of electric cars.

Hasbeen, Where is the subsidy applied by the Australian government.
There is none that I have seen.
Because of the inflated price they get hit by the "Luxury Tax" but
that seems to be the only financial policy applied to electric cars.
Development costs for the Nissan Leaf must have been well and truly
covered by now.
How come they are so much cheaper in other countries ?
Mechanically they are much simpler than their equivalent models.
After all $20,000 is a big differential !

Hasbeen, so good to hear another voice of reason. We have been subsidising the car industry, (and other industries) for so long it's a disgrace. I remember one year Holden was given a $300 million 'handout'(call it whatever you want). Do you know how much profit they declared that year? Yep, you got it. $300 million. These bastards are criminals and yes we are raped and pillaged by the govt's through their taxes and duties they add onto the price of EVERYTHING! Not just cars. As you may be aware from my previous posts, I was born here and yet I hate the place and the sh!tty, ;she'll be right' lazy bastards who make up the bulk of the population, who are more concerned about some sheep dying than the welfare of their own families. And these are the so called middle class. They will get off their ignorant backsides to picket some moronic irrelevant cause, but they won't do ANYTHING to try to pull these mongrels back into line. Now I don't mind if everyone else likes being lied too and have their money stolen from them under false pretenses, but I do. I would dearly love to form/join some form of vigilante group and straighten these thieving pollies back into line. I believe it is the only way to get fairness back into govt. Them knowing that if they step out of line there will be instant response and retribution. Anyone not conforming or complying would either be brain damaged or so arrogant as to feel he is invincible and thinks he can 'take care' of anyone who dares question him. If this scenario sounds a bit far-fetched and extreme, well it is. Govt's for decades have been abusing their positions and we are the abused. All I can say is Australians must have/earn a lot of money, or are they just too lazy. BTW I am so sick of reading/hearing what a wonderful country this is and how we are lucky. I would like to see these people silenced, they are so out of touch with EVERYTHING.

thinkabit,

What you need to do is have a drive of a car that was meant to be driven; a car with a low centre of gravity, leaf springs, a powerful petrol engine, crash 4-speed box and one turn 'lock to lock' steering,
4 wheel mechanical brakes and a skimpy open body.

Then come back and tell us just how great the latest "Wheat-Bix" car is.

Is Mise: No, thanks. No bogan car for me! I much prefer my simple sedate run-about to be merely a modest computer controlled all wheel drive with a 235kW/400Nm 8l/100km supercharged and turbocharged motor, 8-speed geartronic gears, active chassis with electronic adaptive air suspension. And because I value my life and my family's more important than any others it must be extremely safe so requires features like driver alert control, lane keeping aid senses, a radar enabled blind spot information system, adaptive cruise control and other active collision detection and prevention systems. For ease of driving it obviously should have at least automatic reverse parking and self driving on well marked roads (upto 15 seconds without driver input). Of course I personally deserve luxury and comfort so I must simply have computer controlled climate systems and filtered air, electric adjusting leather temperature controlled massaging seats and a classy stylised interior detailing and trim within. Since we live in the computer age it goes without saying that it needs have a touch-screen interactive display and include by default features like GPS maps and directions, multimedia server system (with 100s of GBs of storage for all my music) and seemless connectivity with my mobile phone. Oh yeah, of course I couldn't do without optional extras such as a 19 speaker Bowers and Wilkins sound system. Now that's a proper car! (Not like the rubbish you described). And that is the car I just bought: https://www.volvocars.com/au/cars/new-models/s90

Did you get a car with all that bling thinkabit, or a light truck to carry all the rubbish around with you.

HasBeen: Well it is a heavy car- 2360kgs, but it still has more than adequate acceleration. It's not marketed as a revhead's car but a luxury sedan so it won't beat a souped-up petrol guzzling v8 at a drag at the traffic lights. However for the market its aimed at it's performance is more than adequate (it can accelerate more than most common popular small and lighter cars)

What's really surprizing is that even though it is a heavy car with a powerful engine (235kW = 320hp) it can still be driven economically (about 8L/100km). This is on par with what some small hatch-back cars used to consume not so long ago. This is possible because of the continual improvement of car engineering over time. And that corresponds perfectly with the whole point of my original comment about car purchases.

Specifically, technology is currently improving so fast that it pays to delay purchases because the product you get by waiting just a few years will be superior in quality and features while also cheaper.

thinkabit, I have to lean a little towards Hasbeen on this one. The modern car is all about comfort and performance. (of all the aspects that make a car, handling, brakes, etc;) What many people fail to acknowledge is that whilst you get these features, they come at more than a financial cost. You describe some very comfortable seats. So comfortable I would say, that it would explain why so many people are falling asleep at the wheel. Then there is the 'touch screen'. Again I wonder how many people have come to grief stuffing around being distracted whilst 'playing' with it. As for the 'handling'. The ride in a modern car is, at best, atrocious. Because people are just awful at many things in life, and driving is just one of them, they have tried to make the car less reliant on the driver. In doing so they have 'sported' up the suspension to make the car more responsive to the dynamics of todays bad drivers. I leave the best till last. Computers in a car. What a brain draining idea. Electronics and ANY vehicle combination IS one of the biggest disasters ever unleashed on the automotive industry, and more importantly, mankind. The millions of people with stories about their car and it's many electronics problems, is a matter of record. So, give me an older, pre computer, pre gadgets, pre all this rubbish, cars any day. My main criteria is how comfortable and reliable is my car, not how many 'toys' it comes with. If they did not include these 'toys', people like yourself would not know which car to choose nor why. You don't realise the amount of grief and money you are going to expend after these cars begin to settle in and give trouble. The stories are many. So enjoy the car while you can, but don't get too comfortable for fear of you relying too much on the car and less and less on yourself.

Now you are talking Is Mise, but lets not go overboard, a 3 speed crash box is perfectly adequate. Trucks may be, but cars don't need 4 gears.

Just think how much more pleasant our roads would be if we had no automatics, or synchro gearboxes. The number of incompetent drivers would be so greatly reduced there would never be another traffic jam.

I admit I do know one lady driver who could handle a crash, or any other gearbox, but then she is a competent driver, & a pleasure to share the road with. I'm sure there are some others, but I reckon the driving population would be more than halved, & what an improvement that would be.