Why Are Cars So Expensive In Tunisia | So Expensive

what if the solution to skyrocketing car prices is to build jeep knockoffs by hand a tiny tunisian car company called wally's car is giving it a shot that's because buying a car is unaffordable in this north african country even used cars like volkswagens and toyotas sell for twice their u.s market value so how did cars get so expensive in tunisia back in 2006 a pair of tunisian brothers opened the country's only homegrown car manufacturer this is wally's car its body is fiberglass instead of metal and the tiny engine maxes out at 86 miles per hour corvettes and other cars used to have fiberglass bodies the material is cheap but it has low safety ratings and requires labor by hand today to find a car which is 100 percent made by humans and not made by machines at 13 000 us dollars it's impossible to find the price goes up as buyers customize the colors wheels and interior people come by a wallys because they are looking for something that they cannot find somewhere else while these cars are assembled in tunisia but the engine is imported from france and costs about seven thousand one hundred dollars so when we started we produced 20 cars the first year and then the second year we produced 80 cars and then you went step by step wally's car may be cheap in many places but it's unaffordable for most in the country since the basic model cost the average tunisian almost three years of salary that's a gift the most basic ford model started at more than a hundred thousand dollars in the us taxes are a major part of the cost first there are import taxes that are among the highest in the world then there are consumption taxes with wildly ranging figures that can easily double the cost of the car consumption taxes are based on the age of the car the size of the engine and what kind of fuel the car uses last but not least there is a 19 value added tax so it means that for most of the car the price is for more than 50 percent linked to the taxation level so a used ford fiesta that cost three thousand dollars in the us sells for around seven thousand five hundred dollars in tunisia the difference accounted for in tax and the cost of shipping it's crazy how taxation are in tunisia the government found this solution to make money and who is paying for it is the tunisian people who cannot afford any car now the cars are too expensive nuro and her husband metres have a five thousand eight hundred dollar budget to buy a used car nlp [Music] they tested inspected and circled around the used car market turns out they can't afford one moan if they were shopping in america this would be well within their budget and if there was an efficient public transportation system car ownership wouldn't be such an issue but that's not the case here in tunis buses are unreliable and taxis charge about a dollar a mile many have no choice but to save and pay more for even the most basic cars with the demand high this small country of 12 million people imports a staggering 400 000 cars a year only 50 000 of those imports are new cars the rest are used cars a new toyota corolla sedan starts at 32 thousand dollars in the u.s the same car starts at 20 thousand dollars in recent years inflation triggered by major economic and political upheavals pushed the cost of imported goods further out of reach first it was hit by the 2008 financial crisis in 2010 weeks of anti-government protests ended with the ousting of long-time president ben ali that marked the beginning of the arab spring that spread across much of the arab world including libya egypt syria and beyond if that didn't stop people from visiting a series of terrorist attacks against tourists did 21 people were killed in an attack on the bardo national museum in 2015. the economic collapse that followed affected rental car companies so badly many closed in the last decade the dinar lost 50 percent of its value average income in tunisia is around 400 a month and that puts a car out of reach the market is really used car business oriented and the the new cars registration is still very very low considering the the potential of the market and it doesn't help when prices change drastically from year to year while this car doesn't have the capacity to affect the market yet in nearly 15 years they've sold 2 200 cars but there are big dreams of more our wish is to see more arabic and more african cars around the world you

Channel: Business Insider

Views: 467,301

Rating: 4.8883834 out of 5

Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, tunisia, so expensive, cars

Id: tGvGLRDNRXY

Length: 5min 55sec (355 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 07 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/ounallyx]

I've been rocking a Polo 6 for 9 years now because it's just impossible to upgrade in this cursed land. ( even a single pc part costs much more than the average salary today.. let alone vehicles...) sight

[u/Scafidi_Travels]

Yes, the car prices here in Tunisia are sky high! When I arrived in 2019 I needed to buy a large 4x4 for my work (which involves driving EVERYWHERE across Tunisia, to all 24 governorates, finding stuff tourists might be interested in).

I ended up getting a 2006 Mitsubishi L200 diesel. It cost me 4.5 x more than the same vehicle would have cost in the UK...and that's not factoring in all the work I had to do on the car after buying it to get it ready for exploring Tunisia (custom suspension, long-range fuel tank, secondary electrical system etc.) Getting hold of spare parts is also an absolute pain. I had to wait over 3 months for my suspension to be imported and clear customs!

I'm not sure a Wally Car would survive the abuse I've put the L200 through, but it's an awesome initiative!

[u/Tyler1alphaafboi]

Good video, but did she just say the average income in Tunisia is 400$ ? LMFAO.

[u/RevolutionaryFig929]

I think its more like 300 dollars

[u/elpad92]

Vidéo Behia, nhess ça ne reflète pas la réalité tawa tokhrej fi tunis 9h du matin, 13h,17h dima fama circulation tawa dans une famille en moyenne talka aandhom 2 voitures ken mouch akther! Notre infrastructure te3ba ou lezm plutôt on investit dans les transports en commun

[u/Razills]

That's why I work online and get paid in usd ! 🤤