Feb 18 2008
Montreal Gazette - They call a spade a spade -
Quote “Car manufacturers have been able to get away with this gap only because they have prevented price competition by making it virtually impossible for Canadians to buy new cars from U.S. dealers. Free trade, they seem to figure, should apply only to industry.”
Feb 16 2008
Transport Canada finally approved a zero emissions vehicle for Canadian roads, but the individual provinces seem to be stalling. It only took them several years to approve the Car! Made in Canada, they have been selling World wide for quite some time. Continue reading “ZENN (0 Emissions no noise) Car still waits!”
Feb 15 2008
Article from the NAATA newsletter.
Today, in addition to being Valentine’s Day, marks the 5th anniversary of the start of the largest lawsuit ever filed against car manufacturers who have tried to stop the import and export of vehicles by independent dealers. The lawsuit was filed in California and several other states as a class action on February 14, 2003. After 5 years, the case has moved past endless procedural arguments, disclosure of documents, preliminary examination of witnesses and economic forecasts by some of America’s leading economists on the impact of the parallel market on car sales and prices. One manufacturer has already settled the case for $35 million.
The lawsuit is finally getting close to trial. The original complaint in the case alleges that manufacturers conspired together to impose non-export agreements on car buyers and maintained and shared lists of known vehicle exporters (called “blacklists”). The lawsuit alleges that the manufacturers also conspired to punish authorized dealers who sold new vehicles for export through chargebacks and other financial penalties.
The lawsuit seeks a court determination that the alleged conspiracy and combination constiutes an unreasonable restraint of trade in violation of American competition laws. Although the complaint is based on the alleged conspiracy between manufacturers and not just on the unilateral imposition of blacklists and non-export agreements, the upcoming trial will undoubedtly shed much light on the ability of manufacturers to control vehicle import and export by independent dealers.
Read Originating Complaint in U.S. Lawsuit Against Manufacturers
Feb 15 2008
As another show of strong management and good organization, the RIV took only 53 days to mail me my sticker. The letter was dated December 21st, 2007.
Thank God, Transport Canada outsourced this operation to Livingston. I wonder how much more longer I would have had to wait if the overwhelmed folks at Transport Canada were doing the job.
The next thing they will do is introduce a new improved process. For an extra fee of maybe $500 they will guarantee delivery in two weeks! Ok you boys at Livingston, start working on your share price… pathetic for a “Public Company”.
Here’s an idea, let’s all short the stock. When it gets even lower, then we will do a leveraged buy-out, taking the whole company private. Then we send in a couple of sharp mangers, they clean house and within a year we go back to the market with an IPO guaranteed to make us all very rich! Any takers? Are you listening Brookfield!
Feb 15 2008
Volkswagen follows Toyota moves to cut MRSPs to meet the challenge of our rising Canadian Dollar, but is it enough!
Among its cuts, Volkswagen said it would reduce the MSRP of the Rabbit five-door version by $700, or 3.2 per cent, to $20,975; the Jetta A5 sedan by $1,500, or 6.3 per cent, to $21,975; the Passat 2.0T sedan by $3,500, or 11.2 per cent, to $27,475; and the Touareg 2 V-8 luxury sport utility vehicle by $5,800, or 9 per cent, to $58,975.
Here is the article: 2008-02-14torontostar.pdf
We are all glad to see this movement but do you really think it is enough! Can you fool the Canadian Automobile Consumer?
Stay Tuned, find out what Transport Canada does to help the car makers maintain their unequal prices!
