About 10% of Spanish households have them.

Thing is, of the Spanish people I know who own them, their Thermomixs were given to them as wedding/house warming presents and they just gather dust in their kitchens. All can cook well, are not against gadgets (their pressure cookers are indispensable) they just don't find a Thermomix useful.

Chefs who make LOTS of sauces love them, otherwise the other devotees seem to be people who would otherwise be buying lots of frozen ready meals - and they get their money's worth pretty quickly. Since chopping onions and garlic and cooking spattery tomatoes for long periods is such an integral part of Spanish cuisine a Thermomix is, arguably, of more use in Southern Europe than in the North (not so popular in the UK or Germany).

As TWA884 has said, there are other lower priced competitors geared towards the Northern Europe market where the Thermomix (in the home market - not necessarily the professional kitchen) is used mainly as a soup maker.
Some of the alternative machines are (there's more, like those from Cuisinart already mentioned)
Kenwood cooking chef
Jamie Oliver Home Cooking Machine from Phillips
Thermochef
Vitamix

Amongst the Spanish Thermomix detractors there's the comment that the gadget is priced perfectly. Low enough (just) that it is within reach of aspirational consumers, high enough to pressure those who buy it to persist with learning (and adapting the way they cook) to get on with it and convince themselves that it is actually worth the money rather than feel they were conned.

This review - and the intelligent comments - pretty much sums up my thoughts:
http://www.dailylife.com.au/dl-food/...320-2geuj.html