Toyota Corolla costs more in Bangladesh: Carmudi

The average price of a used Toyota Corolla in Bangladesh is Tk 13.76 lakh, making it the third most expensive Carmudi country after Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

Carmudi, Bangladesh's number one online vehicle marketplace, found the information in a newly-launched Toyota Corolla Index that is based on data from 20 emerging markets in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America.

Based on the Economist's light-hearted Big Mac Index, the Carmudi Corolla Index serves as an at-a-glance tool to understand the wildly ranging price differences in emerging markets.

Surprisingly, the car prices in the index had absolutely no correlation with the country's wealth. For instance, a used Toyota Corolla costs three times higher in Vietnam, which has a GDP per capita of $1,910, than that of the wealthier United Arab Emirates where the GDP per capita is $43,049.

A used Toyota Corolla costs 16,112 euros (over Tk 13.76 lakh) in Bangladesh, which is the highest in Vietnam at 26,673 euros, followed by 21,529 euros in Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the car costs the lowest -- 5,134 euros -- in Congo, followed by 6,592 euros in Tanzania and 6,804 euros in Ghana.

Carmudi analysed the data over the last six months, which included over 17,000 Toyota Corolla listings. The most frequently listed used Corolla worldwide was from 2010; however several countries where Carmudi operates have older cars; for instance, Tanzania's newest Corolla model was from 2008. In fact, the mean year of production was 2005, which makes sense as Carmudi is known for its used cars. 

To compare prices across borders, Carmudi examined the average prices of select used Corollas for each country. The criteria for selection picked out cars built between 2005 and 2011 with between 45,000 and 110,000 kilometres on the odometer.

A Toyota Corolla car is sold in the world every 40 seconds, and that trend has been continuing for the last 40 years, making it the most popular car worldwide, Carmudi said. It is poplar in Bangladesh as well.