The decision was made to spend the time, money, and effort to homologate the model year 2014 bike as there were a host of changes coming and we did not want to go through the process and expense twice.
Oh.. do tell!
Although not entirely in Brammos interest I hope this step motivates ZeroMC to finally get their shit together for the european market and start selling them at more reasonable prices (not up to 1.4 times the US-price).
And I hope not...
Equivalent pricing in euros where 1 USD = 1 euro is pretty typical, I think.
Here's a comparison of MSRP for various items in US vs germany
Base 15" Apple Retina Macbook $1999 or 1.999€
Chevy Cruze LTZ A6 $23805 or €23,990
Kawasaki Z1000 $11999 or €12.195
Zero S ZF11.4 $14995 or €15.100
Tesla Model S 60 kWh $71070 or 69.240€ (not including subsidies)
Tesla Model S 85 kWh $81070 or 76.740€ (not including subsidies)
Part of the higher MSRP in straight currency conversions is VAT / sales tax, which is typically included in european car / consumer goods pricing and is not included in the US.
Part of it is the additional cost of shipping to Europe, for goods manufactured or assembled in the US.
Part of it is as much profit as the market will bear.
I recall seeing very aggressive pricing claims for the Empulse some time back. I'm curious to see what the pricing is set to when the bike is available.