Price and cost are entirely unrelated. If someone came up to you in the street and offered to give you £10-million cash for the newspaper you just bought for 50p you might be worried that there was some catch in the deal, but you'd be insane to turn it down on the basis that it only cost you 50p and a bit of wear on your shoe leather. Someone out there is willing to pay, so that's what they sell at. The TT Australia reply is customer service BS.

I used to be responsible for a certain Ford part. Ford bought it from us for €10. Both my employer and Ford sold it as a spare for £150 through their dealer network and independent garages. Halfords (UK walk in parts supplier for the DIY market) wanted £450. I know a garage that charged £1700 to fit one (less than 2 hours labour). As a brake part the owner might not be too happy paying that to keep his £5000 van on the road, but he wasn't going to risk a crash. Now the vehicle is out of production they are £200 on e-bay as NOS. I doubt the Transit will ever be a classic, but if they were I'd be buying them up, they fail and you can't drive without one.

The spares pricing strategy of the manufacturers will vary through the life of the vehicle and legislation. A German for example can't fit a pattern part for some bits. Where they have to supply more they somethimes pass on the savings to keep the market sweet, where they can make more money overall they do.

A lot of manufacturers actually give away cars and trucks. They sell service parts and finance.

For metal boxes TT Germany face stiff competition even with a TUV cert. Australia I would guess is awash with welders making their own. TT buyers want the logo, so the price is boutique.

Andy