I guess it come down to supply and demand , For example I wanted some engine valves $85 each and 10 week wait , bought some from the states $11 each and delivered in 6 days , go figure , I lived and worked in Perth for 3 years , everything that I ordered had to come from the eastern states ( melb or Syd ) . And as Larry said Manufacturing cost (again supply costs etc ). But at least you can talk to the Manufacturer face to face here and barter if you can for freebies ,

a few years back now I was looking at Goldwing Motorcycles...

but in Australia they were over $40,000

in the US, a little over 20K

I wrote to Honda Australia about this and my email was ignored...

so, I went through the process of shipping a Motorcycle out of the US to Australia... all up it was going to cost me around $26,000 Brand New delivered to my door...

 

then

 

the bad news... under Australian law I wasn't allowed

Only caravan accessories listed at the moment. Email them for a list of vans coming or let them know what you want and they will try to source it for you.

Quite simple really it's called economy of scale, it's the same here as in NZ, we get used to getting screwed but in the end you get the same if not more than you paid, not like USA you get far less than what you paid

This is a good question and one I have pondered on a number of occasions. I own a motorhome in the US and a caravan in Australia (use the motorhome for about three months each year). I have looked at many vans in the US where you will find the average new price for, say, a typical 25' van (with a slide out or two) to be in the order of about $25,000. There is, of course, a range of prices and even some quite a bit cheaper than that. Sure, the economies of scale do come into play but it is hard to put the price difference down to just the bigger market.

What I can say is that vans in the US are generally of only fair quality, probably equating to the mid-range or lower quality Aussie vans. From my observation there are not many high quality brands like you get in Australia (Airstream being a notable exception). Also, and as has been mentioned above, the typical Aussie van has a heavier and more expensive chassis than its American counterpart.

Many other manufactured items are much cheaper in the US including cars and boats. I think that part of the story is the cost of labour in the States and I also suspect that the lower cost of fuel (which flows into the price of just about everything) also contributes to the lower cost of production.

Bottom line, at least from my (non-expert) viewpoint, is that Aussie vans are generally of better quality than their US counterparts and this needs to be factored into the comparison. Still hard to justify the cost diference though and despite spending many years in the States, I regret that I cannot offer a better explanation.