Typically the importer is the distributor, so it’s just factory → importer → dealer → customer, all 3 of which are necessary handoffs to get the karts into our hands.
Regarding the EvoKart, the pricepoint of the chassis was the least of the issues for that operation. A cheap chassis that consistently competes with the top brands would be a major sell at clubs and regional events.
Without multi layer distribution, it’s hard to sell and support product in volumes. It’s not just for reseller and distributors to make money, they are there for a reason.
EvoKart is focused on manufacturing the chassis for the french KFS, they don’t care about the rest
Some people race to win, some race to fit in.
There’s a lot of psychology that goes on in karting, and motorsport in general. There is a distinct trend for homoginisation.
Exactly this. For how romantic the David vs Goliath story is, scale is the name of the game
Comparing to the UK (because i know where to look for comparison costs).
Biggest club TVKC (PFI)
Annual membership: $110
Practice Days: $80
Race entry: $180 (2days)
Bit challenging to find a similar sized club in US but i randomly selected Speedsportz in Texas.
Annual membership: $1300 (includes test days)
Non member practice: $75
Race entry (1day): $75 Members - $125 Non-Members
Arm bands (not a thing in the UK): $10 per person
Tires:
UK - $185
USA - $242
Gas - pump gas is more expensive in the UK and most people in the UK use pump gas, they dont fall for the marketing of specialist fuel suppliers (like seemingly most here).
Chassis (OTK):
UK - $4340
USA - $5712
Those are probably the main things that people care about.
That better include raceday blowies… 
Track memberships around here are $50-75 and season practice passes are like $300.
On fuel - we don’t “fall for the marketing of specialist fuel suppliers” - we’re forced to use expensive junk because sanctioning bodies are too pretentious to write “93 octane Marathon e10 pump gas” in a rulebook.
Race day blowies are the best blowies!
Or some states like Oregon just don’t have the necessary fuel available.
How anyone can make and sell anything competitive from California blows my mind.
There’s entirely too much blowing going on here. 
thanks, this is exactly what I was curious on and looks like the key USA cost issues in a box. Chassis are >$1k more expensive here, tires are 25%+ more expensive, fuel is also probably 25%+ more expensive, I think insurance is materially more expensive in USA vs UK given lawsuits and so not surprised to see an average UK track is cheaper than average US track although I agree those prices are expensive, but we have a lot of local tracks thankfully, and the two fancier tracks are right about there with the more expensive cost I’d say at least, and literally zero raceday blowies are included which I find hard to believe but is sadly true here in America
I doubt that fuel is more expensive here in the US than the UK!
I am guessing that our race fuel prices are similar to your regular pump prices!
need that on a t-shirt
That would be my guess although I haven’t been back to the UK for a couple of years but doubt fuel cost has decreased there!
According to the internet 
gas is on average $6.75 a gallon in the UK (thats USD and US Gallons).
I can say from personal experience, you don’t need the membership to race at Speedsportz, you just pay the higher entry fee and/or the practice fee if you go on non-race days. We race there all the time, but since we live 250 miles (4.5 hours away) we don’t get enough practice days to make the cost of the membership worth it.
Our local club has membership for $250 a year and cheaper entry with free practice days.
Sorry if i hadn’t made thar clear. Id tried with inclusion of member and non-member practice and race entries 