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It’s been several years since China surpassed America as the number one new car market in the world, and there is no turning back for the Asian superpower. China has experienced a veritable tsunami of new automakers rising and falling as established car companies try to hawk popular products from other countries. But not every car makes it to China…at least not through traditional means.
The Ford Mustang is often the subject of the phenomenon known as “grey market” importing. While the Mustang may not be available for purchase from a Chinese Ford dealership, those with the right connections and enough money can get just about any car they want…including the 662 horsepower 2013 Shelby GT500, as Car News China reports.
Because of Chinese tariffs and environmental regulations, importing any car is a costly endeavor, often doubling the price of the vehicles standard MSRP. For the Shelby though, the only way of getting such a car in China is to use grey market distributors, and that can easily quadruple the price of a car like the Shelby GT500. What is a $55,000 car in America can cost close to $200,000 by the time it hits the streets of China.
But with so much money now flowing in and out of China, there are ample customers looking to get a car to set them apart. Since the Mustang can’t be had unless you’re fabulously wealthy or extremely creative, it certainly stands out in a place like China. With 1.3 billion people, there are plenty of Chinese citizens wealthy enough to afford a new Mustang, and many of these muscle cars are imported directly from West Coast Ford dealers.
Hopefully Ford looks to change that with the next-gen Mustang, which we know for sure will be sold in Europe. Ford is leaving a lot of money to the grey market by not selling the Mustang directly in China…will they remedy this mistake soon?
