Mar 18

Vegetable prices down 16.9%, Fruit down 14.5% , Cars down only 6.8%

Tag: Auto Manufacturers, Success Stories — Robert Lamb @ 4:23 pm
  •  The Globe and Mail reported today that Inflation in Canada hit a 6 month low, thanks to Vegetable, Fruit and Car price reductions. 
  • This sounds like a great story, but as our Car prices in Canada go down only 6.8% to try and meet or try and match U.S. rivals,  the U.S. Car prices are also falling.    

  • And if Vegetables can go down 16.9% and Fruits 14.5% lower, why are the Car boys holding out on us!
  • The Car Manufacturers can do better!  
  • Imagine how much more they could sell if they really established Fair Pricing for Canadians!   And then if they honored the warranties.  We all know Canadian  dealers only make money on repairs and warranty work.
  • Here is the article:   2008-03-18globeandmailinflation.pdf  

Note: we can’t help but think that carswithoutborders and all our members and supporters had a key role to play in screezing out that 6.8% .  Also thanks to the CBC and other media outlets that are willing to tell it like it is.    But…..

We still have lots of work to do.  We just priced a Volvo xc70 and found a $10,000 difference!

It would have been a better article if the writer compared our price reductions to the ones the folks in the U.S. came up with, anyone know?

Finally if you assume that the average price of a Car in Canada is $35,000,  then a 6.8% savings is $2380.

Canadians, purchased 1.66 million cars in 2007.   Therefore the savings to our cost of living in Canada is around  $ 4 Billion.    We still have a ways to go! 

3 Responses to “Vegetable prices down 16.9%, Fruit down 14.5% , Cars down only 6.8%”

  1. Serge says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 5:23 pm

    I thought fruits and vegetables always go up in January-February so if they go down 16% instead of up - 10-15% - this makes a savings of 25-30%. Free trade works with fruits and vegetables. It looks like it works for oil and gaz judging from the price in Ontario - but for cars - it takes years….to adjust.

    Bob, you are right, we are making a difference.

  2. claude says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 8:14 pm

    Lexus Canada has made an effort to lower the price of the
    IS 250 (08)(basic price with the 6 speed manual transm.
    for $31900.00) but it is still available at $29000.00 in
    the U.S.A. Cmon,let’s make a deal Toyota.After all you have
    been awarded many CAA quality trophies in Canada.To my
    knowledge nothing comparable has been awarded by the AAA
    to Totota in the U.S.A..Is this a way of apreciating your
    clients?

  3. Sarmad Elahi says:
    March 19th, 2008 at 7:20 pm

    Claude you might find the following helpful.
    Lexus Canada has dropped the price of IS 250 by $4650.00
    In US IS 250 RWD Manual has Base MSRP of $30455.00
    In Canada IS250 RWD Manual has Base MSRP of 31900.00
    Not much difference between the price of the two, but the US version is equipped with a lot more standard items that are available as options on the Canadian version.
    - Canadian version comes with 16″ wheel/tire combination while US has 17″
    - Canadian version has fabric seats while US version has leather, leather is $3300 option for Canadian version.
    - US version has heated seats as standad, this is an optioin on Canadian version
    - ‘Leather Package’ on Canadian version gets you Heather 10 way adjustable seats with 17″ tires but vehicle price jumps to $35,200.

    I found these differences in just 10 minutes. I am sure if I spend more time I can find some more.

    On the surface it looks like Lexus Canada has matched price but in reality there is still a big gap.

    Hope this info will help you when you shopping for IS250.