Americans are quick to complain about the cost of new trucks, which in all fairness continues to rise with each passing generation. Just take the 2021 Ford F-150, for example. Regardless, the prices of new pickups in America are a verified bargain compared to what Australians must pay for imported Ford trucks in that country, without a doubt.
That much is clear after scanning through the inventory currently on hand at Australian importer Maracoonda Automotive. There, buyers can’t stroll down to their local Blue Oval dealership and buy a brand new Ford F-150 or Ford Super Duty pickup, so an importer is the only choice for those seeking a light or heavy duty full-size truck. Problem is, that privilege will cost them dearly.
For example, a 2020 Ford F-350 Lariat equipped with Ford’s 6.7L Power Stroke diesel is currently listed for $172,750 Australian dollars, or an eye-watering $127,481 U.S. The same vehicle can be had for roughly half that price in America, which is an astounding statistic. Things don’t get any cheaper from there, however.
Maracoonda recently sold a 2020 Ford F-150 Limited equipped with Ford’s 3.5L EcoBoost V6 for a cool $169,995 Australian, or $125,448 U.S. And the imported Ford truck seller has quite a few specialty tuner trucks as well, including a Tuscany F-150 that’s available for a cool $209,000 ($154,232 USD). A Shelby F-150 and Raptor were also recently available, but without any listed price.
Clearly, shipping a Ford truck across the pond and making it legal in a country it isn’t sold in isn’t a cheap endeavor, as we might expect. But these crazy prices are almost enough to make a truck lover want to pack up and move, and just pocket that $60,000+ savings. Or, just stick to the Ford Ranger that’s available in many cool variants in Australia, no import premium needed.
We’ll have more interesting pricing comparisons like this to share soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series news, Ford Super Duty news, Ford F-150 news, and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
there are several importers of the Ford F Series trucks in Australia, but the added cost is also to convert them to right hand drive locally as Ford Australia won”t import and convert them. But Ram and Chevrolet do have a local conversion program and sell the through a dealer network, so they have full warranty and support network.
As Paul Craig said above it’s not as simple as bunging it on a boat and driving off into the sunset. To start with the Aussie dollar is only worth about 70c US so the initial purchase price rises by 30% then with all the shipping costs, duties etc adding about $10000 then comes the job of pulling the truck apart and rebuilding it to RHD and to do that you need to have so many parts manufactured to fit and pass quality assurance tests etc as most of these vehicles do carry a warranty similar to a factory unit. So the price for a truck costing $60-70,000 US is sitting at $100,000 Aud before it even leaves America. The trouble is Ford, GM and Chrysler barely look outside of what’s needed/desired in other countries that aren’t LHD so much of their products are not originally designed to adopt a RHD platform; this isn’t new, it goes back decades. Remember the early 1960 Falcons? In the US they were fitted with small block Windsor V8s but if you wanted to fit one here you required differently designed engine mounts and even modified tie rods etc due to our car being RHD US Falcon mounts etc didn’t work.
And it’s no different with the GM Silverado.
Ummm …… import duties , transport , conversion to Right hand drive !!
There’s a company on the U.S West Coast that converts second hand Aussie Holden Utes to Lefthand drive and compliance ready , prices start from around $ 40k USD !!
They sell them very well apparently ! Everything is rdlevant really !
Custom conversions are expensive in EVERY country !
F150 xlt sport 4×4 retail at $48000usd without taxes in USA, not $40000aud in USA , same price as a m240 in USA. M240 is $90000 in Australia , so how much do you think a xlt sport v8 tax after rhd conversion in Australia $30000 = $100000aud before taxes I import them , we lucky to make $5000 net profit on one
Why did Australia sell out Holden and ford brands. Now look the American market is flooding our shores and selling their trucks for the price of a house. Are Australians ok with this. Whats the point but to target young males to get into a debt hole when buying these trucks. Shame on you.
Australia didn’t sell out Holden or Ford, the price to build vehicles in Australia became to high. At least Ford has maintained a few thousand employees directly involved in the design, engineering and testing of vehicles. GM just closed up shop and walked away.
One eyed journalism at its finest, dont make headlines on this issue, all about Ford. All U.S. ‘truck’ manufacturers are in the same boat, even Nissan and Toyota.
But remember, the Australian RHD converters of the F series are a private company, Fiat/Chrysler and Chevrolet are backing the companies that convert their vehicles in Australia.
Well, we are called “Ford Authority,” so there’s that.
USA doesn’t have federal consumption tax = no tax on the retail price of cars, food , fuel , liquar goods . In Australia we tax to hell on everything we buy, we also only Import crewcab diesel engine 4×4 that are $20000usd extra in USA, so the not half the price in Usa spec the same . Also in Australia a $100000aud car is tax $25000 / $200000aud car is tax $65000aud
There also no federal sales tax in USA = no taxes on retail price of everything they buy + we only Import diesel engine f250 . Crewcab is $5000usd extra, 4×4 $4000usd extra, diesel engine $11000usd extra in USA = $20000usd convert that to exchange rate $30000aud extra for the option on the f250 in USA + there shipping costs $5000 + custom fess at the port in Australia $1000 + rhd conversion $37000 + $40000 in taxes excluding 33% lct on a f250 larait diesel . F250 is $20000 less in new Zealand