Interesting read:

http://www.mercedes-benz.ca/index.cfm?id=6895

 

Wonder why MB Canada has posted that? Maybe because of the inflation that had been going on making the Canadian buyers to buy from the states to import back to Canada? anyways it is a interesting read. Thanks for the post

Radiance

 

I see nothing there except for an attempt to justify the inflated prices... but we've had that arguement many times on this forum already, so I digress...

 

This is probably due to the depreciating dollar versus the loonie (Canadian dollar). The exchange rate has changed enough so that it is cheaper to buy a car here in the US and pay the fees and taxes to import into Canada.

 

Not that easy, as I have found.... tried to do that with my W204 purchase but was flat out rejected (tried the broker route). Financially not very attractive either because of the taxes, duties, a week off work, etc.. and MB Canada will take a couple of grand to "certify" the car for inclusion in Canadian warranty (call it the extortion fee).

I love the transcript of an online chat session with the President of BMW Canada. Of course, the notion of price discrepancy came up and he danced all over like hot coal...

http://www.reportonbusiness.com/serv.../Business/home

Shame that he did not offer up a concrete argument and offered no resolution.

 

ok, even if i'm proven wrong, lets do some math.

MB-Canada:
2008 C350 Sedan - COMMAND Nav package
Price: $50,400

MB-USA
2008 C350 Sport Sedan - P2, Multimedia package
Price: $41,575

$1 USD = $0.9877 CAD.

Therefore, the US C350 costs $41,063 CAD. The Canadian C350 costs $51,027

So that means that if you live in Canada, and taxes, fees, blah blah, costs about $10,000, you'll break even importing a car from the US.

 

A lot of that bull**** isn't there when you buy the car used... go purchase one that is one year old, get a mailboxes etc address in the U.S for one month, and bob's your uncle. My next one will be from Buffalo for sure.

 

what they're not mentioning is that MB does not allow any 2008 models to be imported ... used or not.

And they force you to go to MB dealerships to get the certification done (and charge alot!) ... for all other makers Canadian Tire does the certification

 

I read the link at the top of this thread and it reminded me of the "information" that all car manufacturers put out in the UK back in the late 1990's / early 2000's to "justify" why UK car prices were often 30% higher than the same car in continental Europe. Over here they had the RHD/LHD argument to rely on too, of course.

After a number of years of campaigning by consumer groups, the EU mandated that all pre-tax new vehicle prices had to be the same throughout the European markets within a prescribed +/- limit. The net effect of this is that while the retail car prices are now similar in the UK to elsewhere, the dealership's margins have been slashed on new cars so they make their money on other sales - particular on servicing. For example, most MB Main Dealers charge labour rates in the region of GBP95 to GBP110 per hour (USD194 to USD224) and to that we have to add VAT at 17.5%, so we end up paying up to USD263 per hour for service work. I can't imagine US consumers paying those rates, but we have little or no choice as the retail motor trade is for all intents and purposes a protected monopoly in Europe, despite the tinkering-around-the-edges legislation that has been passed in the last few years.

Cars have always been cheap in the USA compared to Europe (partly through the size of the market) and for brands like MB we pay getting on for twice as much for an identical spec car as customers do in the USA. At the moment the US Dollar buys comparatively little in the way of Sterling or Euro's (or Canadian Dollars or Yen). The reality of the situation is that Americans are paying too little for their imported cars and they should expect price rises in order to offset the devaluation of their currency. Either that or they'll have to get used to lower spec vehicles.

 

and why should we expect prices to go up??? Because the value of the dollar is down??

I don't see that happening but then again GWB got elected TWICE!

 

I hope that this happens in North American too someday. Unfortunately, NAFTA does not yield any regulatory power compared to the EU. As a matter of fact, it has been argued many times that the pricing differential is in direct violation of the NAFTA. However, neither government has done anything about it.

And I thought I was being charged an arm and leg @ ca$100/hour + 14% taxes.

Having lived in Asia and North America, I found that automobile ownership is treated very differently here. Because of poor urban development and consumerism, automobiles are seen as a necessity, whereas it is a luxury good in most other parts of the world. People in NA think that driving is a "right" rather than a "privillage", and this is why every Joe-jack has a license and tails me in his Chevy 2-ton during bumper-to-bumper rush hour.

 

Quick lesson in foreign exchange: Each US dollar buys less Sterling or Euros than it did a year ago. A product produced in Europe still costs the manufacturer the same number of Euro's to make as it did a year ago, therefore you need to pay more dollars today than you did a year ago for the manufacturer to receive the same number Euro's.

 

Very true...

 

The world does not revolve around US Currency... anymore.

 

Exactly the point... the world does not revolve around US$ anymore so US buyers should pay what it costs to make in Euro. And since US$ has dropped they should make it up by paying MORE.

But Americans won't bulge. Alas MBUSA Prez Ernest Lieb has a job to make a return to keep his job so he has no option but to decontent the US spec cars to cut costs.