Regular cars with smaller engines will do. Ford is launching car with V3 engine in USA next year.

http://news.yahoo.com/ford-offer-tiny-3-cylinder-engine-us-210805346–finance.html;_ylt=AqTpiEZWOejqJUejNHpcfMfyWed_;_ylu=X3oDMTRvZDNjOGJkBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwNjZDM3NTE0NC1hOTUzLTM4MzktOGZmNS0wNmViMTY3NjQ5M2YEcG9zAzYEc2VjA25ld3NfZm9yX3lvdQR2ZXIDNzk3YzI2ZjEtYmJlNS0xMWUxLThkZjctMGQzMjRhNGRkYTkw;_ylg=X3oDMTM1ZG82MDkyBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDYTI0ZDJhZGItMWY3NS0zZDAwLTk3ZGEtMjdkZTMwNDU5NjBjBHBzdGNhdAN3b3JsZHxsYXRpbmFtZXJpY2EEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdl;_ylv=3

However, the car prices did not reflect the reductions and I have been lead to believe that the importers wanted to “protect” the value of the cars. The same applies to many other products.
Also, in the past, people were willing to pay the higher prices.
Even downloadable software attracts a higher price for Australian internet users. Many companies think they can get away with it and have done so for a while.

With the internet, many Australian consumers are aware of the prices in USA and many other parts of the world. With retail products, many Australians buy from US sites as it is significantly cheaper.
Australian consumers also see the prices of cars in USA and other places. As a result, many consumers have decided to not upgrade their cars at this stage and are waiting for car prices to fall. In fact, I’ve been told a number of affluent buyers are holding off upgrading or buying high end luxury cars. I’ve been told that some dealers got desperate and discounted their prices by 30% towards the end of 2011. This trend has not filtered down towards non luxury cars at this stage.

To transport a car from USA to Australia costs around US$3000.

However, there are some import rules and compliance rules (must comply with Australian Design Rules) that need to be adhered to. Also, the steering wheel in USA is on the left and in Australia, it needs to be on the right side unless
1/ the car is more than 30 years old
2/ you have some special permit (like a visitor to Australia) or is a special vehicle like a garbage/trash truck collector
3/ you live in the Australian Capital Territory – there is a special provision – not sure how it works.
4/ There could be other exemptions which I’m not aware of.

People do get “grey” imports from places like UK and Japan, but I’m not sure how the process works.

sexshoponline

Why is it so expensive there?

Can buy a Leaf in USA for $35K and have it shipped to Australia? How much would it cost?

Whether it is $50k or $60k, in my opinion I feel we get ripped off in Australia and they can’t blame taxes in Australia for it because the taxes on cars does not push up prices by much. The high taxes/duties on cars were abolished decades ago. And it does not cost much to ship a car over from overseas to Australia.

I would like Nissan to justify the $50k plus price tag on the Leaf.

In my opinion at that price you can do your own Electric Car Conversion and still have change left over. I know a number of people who have done their own EV conversions.