The RIV (Registrar of Imported Vehicles) reported today that 13,604 Canadians imported a vehicle into Canada in November 2009.
This represents a slight increase over last month. These numbers confirm smart Canadian Automobile shoppers are continuing to head south for better prices.
CWB continues to predict that opportunities in the U.S. will pick up in 2010 as the stubborn Canadaina car companies continue to over price their products in Canada and the Loonie hovers at around par.
The RIV reported to CWB last week that 13,477 Vehicles were imported into Canada during the month of October. This represents a 15% increase over last month. These numbers confirm again that based on the strength of the Loonie that smart Canadian Automobile shoppers are heading south for better prices.
While these numbers are lower than October of last year (16095), just before all hell broke lose, CWB predicts that opportunities in the U.S. will really pick up in 2010 as the Loonie is supposed to hover at around par, and the stubborn car companies continue to price their products in Canada unfairly.
Stay tumed…
Now I’m confused a bit - Canada thinks its dollar is going up too fast and that this is not good for the country. And on the other hand I am reading that the CEO’s in the US prefer a stronger dollar in the USA as it protects against inflation, gives credibility in the world etc.
Here is a direct quote from one CEO -
“Long term, the economic welfare of the country relies on a stronger dollar,” said Norfolk Southern Corp. CEO Wick Moorman. “While shorter-term weakness may accomplish certain things, it’s not a good long term monetary policy.” (note extracted from globeinvestor.com)
Why does Canada want to have a weak dollar? Weak dollar to help our exports, a weak dollar to keep Canadians buying in Canada. Two countries - same long term goals but different recipes.
Now a high dollar can be said to be bad for Ontario and Quebec. Bad for our exporting companies and then bad for the employees who work for those companies. However we have free trade with the US and part of this free trade is to let the Canadian $ fluctuate and let the market dictate the value of the currencies. Now today, our dollar is worth more-over $0.97. It could be said by American companies that when the dollar is too low that Canadian exporters are getting an unfair advantage over its US competitors. So the fact of the matter is the dollar is back up again - some are predicting parity by year-end - I say parity by the end of October, just like in 2007.
If you are shopping for a car, tires, car parts - do yourself a favor and check out the US pricing. In most cases there is an advantage and many times a LARGE benefit. At CarsWithoutBorders we are trying to help consumers to level the playing field. Companies are scaring Canadians into buying at home at higher prices but you know several hundred thousand cars are imported from the USA every year, so it is something that is doable and worthwhile.
Stay tuned.
Today the Canwest follow-up story to the 3 part series concerning the Bathhurst tragedy focuses on Transport Canada’s lack of leadership and its inability to adopt CSA standards to protect human lives on our roads.
The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) has been after Transport Canada to adopt school-bus transportion standards that they had spent years working on.
Spokesman Ron Campbell stated “The CSA wouldn’t have gone into this if we felt those vans were providing the safety that was needed” , he went onto state “I don’t understand why, after the Bathhurst tragedy, this hasn’t been changed”.
It appears that Transport Canada - sticks its head in the sand as Canadian Citizens die needlessly on our roads. How much time and $$$ have Ford lobbyists spent in the offices of Transport Canada.
John Baird mintc@tc.gc.ca , Lawrence Cannon….. same fishy smell, different name.
Since Ford is appearing to be bouncing back, promoting a new stable of safety focused cars maybe they should either spend some time and funds to modify the Vans to the CSA standard or just stop production.
For full story: 2009-09-10gazette.pdf
