Filed under: Earnings/Financials, Canada
That's Loonie! Canadian car sales set record in February
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United States auto sales during the month of February were less than stellar for the mass majority of automakers. Low numbers in the largest world market have never made for good news, but America's neighbors to the north helped pick up a little of the slack. While car salesmen stateside were busy occupying their time with solitaire on the PC (or reading Autoblog), salesmen in Canada were out making deals. February sales of cars and light trucks in Canadia experienced a 14.3-percent increase over the same month of 2007. The buying spree was fueled by falling prices that were adjusted to better represent the ever changing exchange rate and the near parity of the Candian Loonie and the U.S. dollar. Automakers could only get away with arbitrarily charging a higher price for the same car in Canada for so long, and it appears that practice is slowly coming to an end. As for hte particulars, GM saw a 
14.5 percent increase; Ford jumped 4.1 percent; 28.1 and Honda was the Biggest Winner with its record leap of 53.2 percent.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kowell 1:55PM (3/05/2008)
Sadly.... most price adjustments repserensed a 5-10% drop while the real difference was more around 20-25% on certain models....
The biggest insult comes from Toyota that claims loud and strong that they have made strongest adjustements..... Every SUV and 4x4 price droped 2,000$.... wich leave them 10,000$ higher than the american model.... thanks Toyota
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Kowell 2:05PM (3/05/2008)
"repserensed"....wow... 5 typos in 1 word... a new record for me.... "Represented"
AlexP 1:56PM (3/05/2008)
I fail to understand why Honda's getting a 50% increase in sale when those f*ckers are still considerably overcharging us for their vehicles.
27 grand base CR-V ftw.
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Ben H. 2:09PM (3/05/2008)
Canadians are gullible?
J.Crew 2:14PM (3/05/2008)
Last I heard Honda is a company driven by PROFIT. Why adjust it if it is still selling? Market driven pricing sounds like a good idea from the companies perspective.
mmm 2:29PM (3/05/2008)
If it were really market driven, Canadians would be allowed to cross the border and buy cars in the US. But steps have been taken to make it more difficult/impossible. These are not free markets.
psarhjinian 2:35PM (3/05/2008)
They're free, in that special sense of the word that says "The manufacturer is free to screw you six ways from Sunday." You can still buy the product, but Honda et al don't have to make it easier.
That's really the epitome of capitalism, isn't it? I mean, you'd have to be a "loony lefty"** to want the government to step in and stop this kind of thing.
** (please note that, yes, I actually am a loony lefty)
J.Crew 3:46PM (3/05/2008)
mmm - there is a big difference between "market driven" and "free markets". Market driven pricing would be for the Canadian market and what consumers accept to pay for the price of a vehicle in Canada. You are referring to cross border shopping in a different country which is totally different as that market has its own pricing it will accept.
J.Crew 1:57PM (3/05/2008)
Yeah, well our economy is now heading south like the US economy as we are all tied at the hip. The price adjustments are nice and all for the most part, but they still have more room to go if they need to.
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SkiD666 3:18PM (3/05/2008)
Well Ontario and Quebec anyways, Alberta is still going strong. I assume that is the reason truck sales haven't decreased like they have in the states.
Tricky dicky 3:04PM (3/05/2008)
you guys are nuts if you thing that they are anywhere near parity.
I hope some of the lawsuits that are on the books now nail the manufacturers. AlexP is dead on the money with his example of the joke ass 27k base price for a CRV. Add that a loaded rav4 tickling 40k, an STi tickling 50k and a loaded highlander tickling 52k.
Our economy is just doing very well. our january sales were up almost 13% as I recall so this just continues a trend.
February marked chrysler's 19th straight month of increases year over year (the number 2 seller in canada).
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Tricky dicky 3:18PM (3/05/2008)
regarding people cross border shopping, the auto manufacturers forbidding their dealers to sell to Canadians will be the things lawsuits are made of and I pray they get their ass kicked over it like they have in europe.
They don't have to make it easier but they should not make it impossible by threatening dealer franchises. Tardhats.
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Frick 3:18PM (3/05/2008)
Sure, it's capitalism, they should be able to charge what they want. But only if their illegal blockage of imports from 100 miles south stops. It's not the government blocking the imports, it's the manufacturers with their warranty denials and outright prohibition of canadian sales by the US dealers.... that should be illegal. When that happens they simply turn into straight out thieves, and never will I be bullied into shelling out 10k -15k more in canada by those criminals.
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Craig 3:29PM (3/05/2008)
What's ironic is that a lot of cars are actually built here (Canada), so shipping would cost less...
That being said, a lot of companies offer surprisingly different content in Canadian cars. Sometimes they offer winter-type things as standard, etc. But I find most often we end up getting base models with less content, but still with higher prices.
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dremian 4:19PM (3/05/2008)
The fact of the matter in this issue is quite simple, from September 2007, when the price disparity issue gained momentum in parody with the ascent of the Loonie, Canadian consumers effectively postponed vehicle purchases and or sought "Southern Alternatives" in order to force the manufacturers to react. Unfortunately, while small victories have been claimed the conflict is far from conclusion. Sure the Dealers got squeezed last fall and cried to their suppliers who, in turn threw the masses some crumbs off the linen in the Executive Dining Room, but never underestimate greed. Free enterprise and the entire industry is founded upon that one vice and only educated, focused and unified consumerism keeps it in check. Want to force prices down in any given sector, don't talk about it, do it, pick a target, or several, avoid it for a few months, weeks or days and eventually they react. There are proactive Companies out there, who at least attempt to play fair but, insofar as the Automotive industry is concerned, behind closed doors, "Guests" are still suckers and "Clients"are still marks and Job 1 is still separating them from their cash. The Manufacturers who have dropped billions from their troughs should stop whining, they have no one to blame but their own greedy selves. The industry needs major reforms, everything from slimy dealers to shoddy repairs and sketchy products, it can all be done better, and more profitably if consumers become more demanding of value and quality for their money. Marketing and financial success has been bestowed on imports because these Manufacturers have listened to and adapted their products to satisfy, and in most cases exceed consumer demand. One of the major reasons Imports into the U.S. haven't skyrocketed in price in face of the U.S.Dollars premeditated devaluation is that now everyone is afraid any inflation will break the proverbial camels back and send us all into the penalty box for a good long time.
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Anon E. Moose 4:51PM (3/05/2008)
they neglect to account for the leap day. assuming that means 25 rather than 24 sales days -- cut roughly 4% from the #s.
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tark 9:27PM (3/05/2008)
I hope the lawsuits against crossborder discrimination win quickly.
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mxrz 10:34AM (3/06/2008)
Word. I really want to buy an Audi S4 in the US for the price for an A4 in Canada. But so far all the dealers I called told me no way, they won't sell.