Loading ...Same Mercedes model costs $38,000 more in Austria than in the U.S.
John Leake
Apr 3
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A car enthusiast friend in Vienna called me today to make fun of all the hysterical talk in Europe about President Trump’s alleged outrageous affront to free trade by imposing tariffs on the importation of European products.
“Do you know how much a new Mercedes CLE 450 costs in Vienna?” he asked.
“I don’t know—90,000 Euro?” I guessed.
“Good guess. 95,000 Euro,” he replied.
“And in the US?”
“$70,000 dollars,” I again guessed.
“No, $67,500” he said.
In other words, a new Mercedes Benz made a few hundred miles from Vienna in the same EU zone costs $38,000 more than it does in the United States. The reason is because the E.U. levies a 20% Value Added Tax and several other taxes onto the sale of cars. One result of this is that the United States if by far the largest market for German cars. Los Angeles is the largest market in the world for Porsches.
I wondered what an American Corvette Stingray costs in Vienna, and I found a dealership that sells them. In the States, the C8Z06 starts around $115,000. In Austria, including all of the taxes (“Preis Brutto”) the car goes for 350,000 Euros.
At least with respect to the auto industry, it is perfectly silly for the Europeans to claim that Trump’s tariffs are some sort of unfair, punitive, jingoistic action. Even with the new tariffs, American taxes on cars will still be lower than what they are in Europe.