Playboy wrote:Luckily for them, VW happened to avoid the Luxury German Tax when they officially set up last year.
Porches, Audi, BMW, Mercedes were not so lucky.
In response to an earlier comment, most of the official German brands here are making about a 4% profit on new car sales, not 10%.
Since they first opened, most of the official German brands have now changed their policies and have started servicing, spares and repairs, for grey market imports in addition to their work on officially imported vehicles to make ends meet.
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Not entirely on point there, your Lordship. VW was immune because they were already authorised and established prior to the 2014 'German car tax'. So too were Mercedes of course, but VW was never specifically named as a targeted brand.
What actually happened was this:-
The schedule was leaked in early 2014 from memory. It led to such abject confusion that it was forced back to the CoM, who decided to call a meeting with industry groups and interested parties. There was a virtual fisticuffs between the dreadful thickheaded mafiosi running the customs department (whose underlings were responsible for inserting the brands into the tax document, thus creating the 'German luxury tax') and the US educated leader of the Ministry of Commerce, who had taken a somewhat more modern approach to a luxury car tax. Neither side wanted to give ground. I remember the dunce at the customs department grunting and snorting through the translator that the brands listed were 'only a guide' - whatever that means.
Simultaneously, Chinese built cars also became immune to certain tariffs in the 2014 schedule, which led to tremendous Cambodian farce as brows were furrowed and faces were lost, then saved as they tried to in vain to categorise the German brands assembled in China. No idea what came of that.