Normal EMC pricing?
Admittedly everyone else is just as guilty of the "Starts at £X" marketing but starts at $18k, add a set of 10 small SSDs $68k. Add the usual other bits and bobs and software licenses $88k. Tack on semi-mandatory support for another $30k to bring you up to $118k.
$118k sounds much more realistic than $18k to me.
Also 30,000 IOPS really is not impressive in this space. As it's a re-engineered VNX I can't say I'm surprised by it capping out around that point, but that decision to cut costs be fettling an existing box will show in the long term.