Prices of 599 GTO in different countries

OK but for me that's still counter-productive. People who buy those cars are usually successfull entrepreneurs, and punishing them with those taxes can only encourage them to go make business elsewhere. And a few Porsche and ferrari's are certainly not the source of space problem.And there are no High-end Sports cars produced in Taiwan, so there is nothing to protect from ferrari.

Those taxes are stupid and socialist.

 

Standard 599 is 750.000 $ in Norway. I don't wanna know how much a GTO is... (no official price list either)

It's luxury + envoirement tax... And the gov. say because we can afford it... Which is largely true. Streets are, even with hardcore pricetags, flooded with cars people paid 100-200.000 $ for.
If we had US prices, I'm confident you would see a Gallardo in every 27 year olds garage....

My incoming 2000 550 Maranello is 200.000 $ and half of what a new 997 Turbo cost...

 

Here in the UK mine came in at £328,000 (and thats with most options)

 

what is the magic behind this ? a country where everybody is rich ? oil maybe ?

 

Oil, maybe??

I'll break it down for you:
- We use only 2-4% of the oil income in terms of national budget, rest goes to investments. Rest of the national budget in funded through.... taxes.
- The Norwegian oil fund is there for the later generations, when the oil eventually stops. You can go on to the national oil funds web pages and see for yourselves where the oil money is being spent (I have never done this myself)
- Today the total worth this fund is approx 400 billion US dollars and under the Egyptian crisis, it grew by 21M $ a day. Given that the country has a population of approx 4.7 million (a mid sized US city, maybe?), we have a pretty solid safety net. The investments are spread through the world and we own tons of companies you've probably heard of, along with tons of real estate, weapon factories+++
- We have among the highest pay checks in the world; McDonalds gives you 50.000 $ a year and a plumber/electrician gets easily 100.000 $ a year. Because of this, "everything" (except for home electronics) is probably on the worlds highest price list - so when we travel overseas "everything" is very, very cheap for us. In fact, the second largest population of Norway are Swedes - because they get a higher standard here
- Perhaps you didn't know, but whenever an American giant cooperation want to test if their product is ready for the world market - they do it here. Bluray players etc. are launched here VERY early because Norwegians have the money to try new stuff out, long before the price drops to the point where the products are available for the world mass market. This means that we have probably tasted more variants of your beloved Coke than anyone else in the world (they've tried strawberry, vanilla, coffee etc.)
- Countless high end investors in Europe bought Norwegian Krones when the financial crisis hit, because it's rock solid against Euro, Dollar, Pound etc. Norway did almost not feel the impact of the financial crisis at all. Except for a few Aluminium (Aluminum to you) plants that were shut down due to decrease in demand (which the Chinese eventually bought), not big lay offs at all
- Corruption is almost non-existent. The basic rule is; Equality for the law - which means that no matter the ranking (only exception is the King) you will have to pay if you corrupt or brake a law. The government fear the people, not the other way around
- You can actually run in to the Prime Minister at a local grocery store without him being followed by bodyguards... Actually, he is following me back on Twitter!
- And because everyone is so happy, you have the right to demand 9 weeks of holiday/vacation every year (of which you get paid while you're on vacation). This is forced on by the government so that the people don't get overworked
- Unemployment rate is the lowest in the world, with an unemployment rate of 3,2% in 2009
- Education is free, unless you want to study at private schools. Even if you get study loan from the government study loan institute, they will forgive 40% of whatever amount you have loaned, if you complete your education
- If you lose your house you will get a temporary flat from the government
- Dentist is 100% free until you're 18. Health care is practically free and without conditions for as long as you live (and drugs are heavily subsidized, you only pay about 1/5th of the original price) - you just pay 30-50 $ before your leave and post-controls are all free. I visited my doctor today and the consult fee was just above 20 $, and I got prescription for a drug that costs 100 $ for three month use but I will only pay 20 $ for it when I go and pick it up
- If you get ill or lose your job, you will (for up until three years) get 60% of your old paycheck from your government, meaning that if you got 10.000 $ a month from your employer you will get 6.000 $ a month from the government
- Food standard is probably the worlds highest and controlled many times stronger than the European Union countries (Norway is not in EU) and the water quality is unmatched (you know the Voss water you guys pay 4 $ a bottle for? I piss it )
- The nature is voted by National Geographic to be the best in the world
- The standard of the prisons are the worlds highest
- And the bonus if you are male; You'd think Swedish girls are hot, wait till you see the Norwegian standard... In the UK or France or US or wherever, you might see a few cute girls every day, but here you'll see a hot girl on almost every corner no matter where you are. Because there's so much focus on being healthy, almost all of them are thin, model like. A French journalist stayed in Oslo and said; "The girls are so hot and if that's not enough, they're willing too! I'm in paradise!"

Not a free country by any means, but everything is of such a high standard that you can live with high car, alcohol and tobacco taxes - and afford practically anything that gives you a perfect, comfortable life.

So the main difference between Norway as an oil nation and the other lucky oil countries in the middle east, is that the oil is every Norwegians and not the governments - we get everything we want to live comfortably and must contribute with high taxes so that we can continue to do so in many years to come.

 

^ That was really interesting to read ! Too bad that country is a giant freezer because you gave me the will to live there.

 

You get all four seasons, and I quite like that. Real winter (4 months), real spring (2 months), real summer (it gets very hot) (4 months), real autumn (2 months). Truth is, you can't escape the snow. But you can choose to live in areas where it's at its minimum There are hundreds of activities during winter time too, including teaming up with the Evo's and WRX STi's and going on frozen lakes to have a blast...

 

I'm amazed you didn't mention Rakfish as a Norwegian culinary highlight or whatever that pickled herring dish is

 

Not to everyones liking, not mine at least!

 

it's settled then. i'm moving to Norway

 

Norway sounds PERFECT!

Curious, is Realestate expensive there also??

Can you tell me what the average house is worth? In Australia, the average house is worth approx US $400K.

 

Exactly...

Alex Lin

 

Norwegian cities got a lot of "suburbs". If you can handle driving 15-45 minutes each way, you can get a pretty descent house with a good standard from 2.000.000 NOK (just above 300.000 $). Where I live, right in the city core of the largest city in Norway (Oslo), a good house will set you back twice that. But you know, if you got a girl and buy a home together, and work for it, you move anywhere you want We have our "Hamptons" but the people living there are metrosexual anyway, who wants those as their neighbors anyway

The banks are cool. Show them an income for the last three years, and put about 50.000 USD on the table that you have saved, and they will easily give you a loan that's 3-4x your yearly income. So most single guys actually live either a little bit outside the city core in a small house, or in the center in a small one-two bedroom flat. Either way, you are able to get yourself a home if you're not picky. No difficulty in finding a 2M $ baby mansion, but I know of couple of "untouched" spots in the real estate market which are perfect in terms of child friendly neighborhood and location, where 99% would be happy.

 

Thanks mate, very interesting. Sounds like a great Country!!

I will have to visit there one day to check out these Norwegian snow bunnies.

We must be lucky here, if you show the bank a 10% deposit, you can borrow around 6-7x your yearly income.

A person earning AU $100K here can easily buy a $600K-$700K property.

My brother earns around AU $125K and he was approved for $890K loan a few months ago.

 

Lucky indeed! But I guess it works for our market..

Back on topic now, maybe

 

sounds nice... but taxes are SO HIGH in Norway that very few have exotics compared to the rest of the world....

 

Approx AU$1m in Australia which translates to US$1m. 100% duty applicable