.

Here is a pretty good report on Canadians buying cars in the U.S. that aired on the local Global station. One of the U.S. dealers just south of the border in Vermont is thinking about hiring a French speaking salesperson to handle all the people coming down from Quebec.

Well  we had a pleasant surprise this morning while perusing the Driving section of the Gazette.  POSTMEDIA NEWS reporters John and Sandra Turely-Ewart were allowed to report that the entry level price of the 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe is $9,000 more in Canada. A 20% difference!   

They go on to state that “the difference seems a bit much, something GM might want to revisit the price if it wants this car to sell in Canada and generate new Caddy Customers”.

Cadillac CTS good journalism!

Well this is a bit refreshing, but I am sure their editor had them tone it down.  So I decided to look at the true difference for hard working Canadians! 

Here is what we found:

Now this study is a bit rushed, and we didn’t go over the spec sheets in lengthy detail, but we are willing to wager that the US version is better built and has more features.

Here is the pricing data:

2011 CTS Coupe US Pricing   2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe Canadian Pricing  2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe Canadian Pricing OPage 2 

Remember in Quebec you need to make around $25,000 in order to save $13,000 after taxes! That is a big hit on our cost of living, but we guess GM figures wealthy Canadians are just as stupid as the CRUZE folks!

 On a side note, we are hoping that GM does not “black-ball” this writing team, as we have heard them to do in the past.  All Auto Journalists just love the free trips, parties and give aways that the Car companies throw at them!

Guess they make good candidates to run for political office in Canada, or work in Construction in Quebec!   EVERYBODY KNOWS …. EVERYBODY KNOWS……

So the Cruze is making a big splash all over North America.  (also Car of the year in INDIA! … we wonder who they wined and dined and  paid off to get this title… )

This morning we were so upset with these rave revues, we wondered if GM was going to be fair to Canadians!  With a dollar hovering just over par you… my hard working Canadian can now  pay over $5000.00 more in Canada for the same car your U.S. cousins are purchasing.  $30,379.77 in the U.S. and $35696.25 in Canada.  Almost a 15% difference!

see details Cruze U.S. Pricing  , and Cruse Canadian Pricing 1 and Cruze Canadian pricing 2. 

What is not surprising is how all the Automobile Journalists have refrained from writing on this pricing issue, while at the same time informing us of all the fantastic new features. 

They should be mentioning the pricing issue, but I guess they still want to be wined and dined by the Canadian Car Companies…..   Canwest Car writers need to start informing Canadians rather that being cheerleaders for Car Companies that are ripping Canadians off!!!!

BMW is still out there price gauging Canadians,  but now we have the SWISS folks going after the car company for preventing them from buying in other countries where prices are less expensive. 

The NAATA.org folks have highlighted the story! 

Wonder when Canadians and the SWISS are just going to wake up and stop buying until the prices are more competitive…. EVERBODY KNOWS….EVERYBODY KNOWS…

Check out the Toronto Star, Mark Toljagic is right on and calls it as he sees it. 

Canadians shopping for cars in the U.S. - again!

 and take a look at some of the responses he has from your trusty Canadian car folks!  

 Volvo response is a bit funny, they offer a cash discount of UP TO $9000, but the difference in price is around $19,000.00! ( see our price comparison dated April 20.)

We really had a laugh yesterday when we looked through all the misleading Auto ads in the Gazette.  Now we know why the Gazette doesn’t want to print the truth about pricing, more than 75% of their revenues must come from Canadian Car ads. … but back on topic…

Check out this ad from Volvo, Pay cash and they  give you up to a $9,000 dollar discount.  Sounds good until you find out that the price difference for the entry level with no options XC90 AWD Executive model is $79,006.85 Tax in.    The US model is 50 versus $60362.16 Tax In ( Including the 6.1% European tax) … a difference of $10,000 after a possible $9,000 cash rebate…if we had more time we would call and probably find out that the rebate was only $8,000 ( after tax ?) because we did not buy the fully loaded model?!

Need we say more…

2010-04-20volvocanada.jpg    2010-04-20volvousprice.jpg

Well talk about taking advantage ( some people call that screwing!)  the same people  that subsidize and feed you!

 Canadian Pricing Summary Details

U.S. Pricing Details

So we just couldn’t resist taking a look at some of the recent vehicle prices.  We wanted to see  if  some Canadian Car Companies were adjusting to the new “Par” dollar or just quite simply doing nothing….  for we all know most Canadians don’t care if they pay thousands of dollars more for the same vehicle driven down south by their American cousins.

But Serge and I do.  Keep following this site daily as we both go about attempting to purchase a new automobile at a fair price.  Over the course of the next few weeks we will explore and visit showrooms in Canada and the U.S., we will even attempt to obtain quotes from the APA’s recommended Brokers. 

We will highlight the process, the roadblocks  put up by the industry and our Government to keep Canadians paying substantially higher prices.   Better to give all our hard earned money to Multi- national companies, than to keep it in our pockets.  Why would we want to improve our standard of living?  Just ask all the  ex Nortel Pensioners (12,000Plus)  how they feel about our Government, The Bond traders, Major Banks and the current Bankruptcy Act that will cost them and Canadian Taxpayers millions of dollars!

Well, we are afraid to tell you folks that that is the way our Government and the Multinational Companies work.  Together they manage to make hard working Canadians pay more than their American Cousins. 

Stay tuned!