Dev Patel's Blog

After reading Helge Ratvik’s recent blogpost “Prestige Pricing in Advertisement“, I was interested to see how prestige pricing for luxury cars differs in different countries. Coming from Thailand, I have noticed the glaring difference between the types of cars you see on the roads in Vancouver compared to Bangkok. In Vancouver you see Audi A4’s, BMW 7-series’ and Mustangs – all of which are common, and certainly do not fall under the same category of prestige pricing. In fact, in Vancouver a car that falls under prestige pricing would be that one Lamborghini Reventon I am certain I saw downtown!

However, in Bangkok, seeing a Lamborghini would be a dream come true for all motor buffs. It might be the roads or traffic, but it is definite that in Thailand even Lamborghini would not bother with spending lots of money to target their cars to Bangkok – even if they did use prestige pricing.

Lamborghini on Thai Roads

In Thailand, the car companies that enjoy prestige and luxury are not quite the same as in Vancouver, however they do follow a very similar pricing strategy of prestige pricing. Prestige pricing is adjusted relative to the country, however it is definitely apparent in car companies such as Mercedes and Porsche.

Mercedes is so prestigious in Thailand that hotels like the Marriot use Mercedes cars as private taxis for customers

The promotion strategies for Mercedes, both through television commercials and through the annual Bangkok Motor show clearly isolate Mercedes as a much more luxurious product and as Helge Ratvik mentioned in his post: a product that pays itself. When you go to a Mercedes show room compared to a Honda show room, the prices are astronomical however relative to the cars on the road in Thailand, the luxury is worth it – for those who can afford it.