A base A3 retails at EUR 22,200 in Germany and EUR 23,365 in France. In the UK we pay GBP 18,575.
Those are the bold numbers but as other posters have said it's impossible to say without knowing what specification was involved, how it was paid for (or not paid for), etc... I'd be surprised at a £10k differential on any A3 model but maybe some creative "man maths" is at play.
The UK's biggest problem is that cars are seldom advertised as costing £x anymore, every advert seems to deal in "£x per month" terms so most folks don't own their cars (or have any equity in them at all) and don't have a clue what they are really costing. I bought two new cars in 2013 and the fact that I was BUYING the cars with good old-fashioned CASH seemed beyond most of the shiny-suited salesman
The prices sound about right, given the exchange rate. Not sure if all Audis are built in Germany, but if so, that might also reduce the price locally due to lower costs to get the to dealers. I'm sure also that differences in sales and environmental taxes can make a difference as well.
If the prices were that much different, the brokers would be doing a roaring trade like they were in the mid 2000s. I would say, though, that car prices in the US & Canada (for approximately equivalent models) appear still to be considerably cheaper than in Europe, not just for US cars.
You'd also think that given the recent experience with people (as well as governments) borrowing beyond their means for (often) high-priced items such as cars, which often are bought as fashion statements or to show off, rather than mostly for practical use.
I'm still amazed at how many people on lower incomes or who have endured periods of unemployment [like myself] pay out either huge sums or take out loans, PCPs etc for high performance/expensive cars and the ongoing costs (insurance, maintenance) that comes with them. Its almost as though either they've forgotten about the past 7 years or they just can't 'stands it no-more' and have to splash the cash. Oh well.
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