Car News Articles

You’d be brave to accuse the locally made Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore of being overpriced.

After all, you get a lot of car for the money, and these days Commodores and Falcons deliver when it comes to the driving experience and list of standard equipment.

But after spending a week in a Pontiac G8 – a rebadged, mildly restyled version of the Holden Commodore SS – it’s clear Americans are getting an absolute bargain.

The V8-powered Pontiac G8 GT sells from US$29,310, or about $32,000.

In Australia the Commodore SS sells from $45,290 and, for now, it doesn’t get things like the cylinder cutout system – which can reduce the V8 to a four-cylinder when cruising. Holden will start fitting the system locally from the end of this year. The Pontiac also comes standard with the six-speed auto transmission that adds another $2000 to the price of a Commodore SS.

So even after the Commodore – badged as a Pontiac G8 – is shipped overseas it still works out to be more than $10,000 cheaper than a Commodore. And that’s after it’s made the almighty trek to the US.

Sure, there are different taxes and different market dynamics. But it’s fair to assume Holden is still making a profit on the G8, which begs the question of why we pay so much for what is essentially the same vehicles. Little wonder here at Drive we’re getting questions asking the same thing.

A Holden spokesman says it’s misleading to simply conduct comparisons using current exchange rates, because rates can fluctuate so much and decisions on pricing and positioning are usually conducted a long way out and take into account the life of the vehicle.

“They’ve (Pontiac) set the price of their car relative to the price of their market,” says the spokesman. “We set our price relative to our market.”

Still, you can’t help wonder if Australians are subsidising sending affordable Pontiacs to the US.

What do you think? Are we paying too much for our Commodores? And are we getting ripped off?

Or are the Americans paying too little?

Toby Hagon