van-s4-01

If they would've not cared about price, they'd be buying RS6.

SMO

A lot of the anger is directed at the fact that the manufacturers won't honour warranty's, won't sell cars to Canadians, etc.

This is therefore NOT free trade, and in this case, the "invisible hand" (as discussed in the G&M article posted below) will never correct the mispricing.

There's nothing stopping you from buying a TV in the states and driving it back. But outright refusal to sell something to a non-US resident is ugly.

van-s4-01

Well, frankly, I don't have a problem with a price difference. As outrageous as it is, I can understand that they cannot adjust it overnight.

What I do have a major problem with is a sale restrictions in US. In the end, it is a "we cannot allow Canadians to pay less" measure. And THAT is outrageously anti-customer and I do take it very much personally.

Again, I realize that if these restrictions are not in place, then there'll be a flow cars in whatever direction through specialized import/export companies and such. But I don't really give a damn -- restrict these guys, don't restrict me. I am their ultimate customer.

van-s4-01

Ta-Da. Exactly !

van-s4-01

Resale values may hold, but the pool of naive, ignorant and super-rich-dont-care-about-price buyers of the NEW cars should shrink down very quickly with some interesting effects on these "record" sales figures.

Porsche did a right thing. Audi should follow. And I suspect it will as the Porsche cut is probably a test for the whole VAG.

SMO

... the market and not by the dollar or the cost of manufacturing. In other words, people in Canada are willing to pay $45k for an A4 while people in the US are only willing to pay $35k. If Audi lowered the price of the A4 to $35k here, guess what? The demand would be so high from all the people choosing it over BMW's, etc., that they wouldn't keep up.

Economics is about supply and demand. And if people are willing to pay, then why would they lower prices? It's priced for the market. What's distorting this issue, however, is that they are not playing by the rules of free markets...

Meegis

The contracts for the US are ending in the next year for most european companies, so we can expect to see a major hike in US pricing.

VW may not though with their new campaign.

Tanner

Everybody else bitches and whines when they know damn right prices can and will change in the future. Example: iPhone. Steve cut the price down significantly, people whined, Steve caved in. If I were Steve I would have said 'screw you all you early adopters'

maaliish

Truth of the matter is that your prices didn't increase. You're paying as much (if not less) as you used to. What you want to do is too rip the benefits of our stronger dollar over that of our neighbors. Identically, we can look at the pricing of other goods such as FOOD in poor countries and expect to have the same pricing here or to be allowed to acquire these goods from "other", cheaper sources. This type of import would most likely elevate the economy of the poorer country while destroying the economy of your own. For this reason, we have governing bodies which control the flow and tax the goods. While I absolutely would try and acquire a car from the US, I also understand why "they" don't make it easy for us and I'm not angry about it.

I really don't understand your last comment. Who do you want to be restricted? It seems you understand the reasoning behind these restrictions but just don't want to accept them :-)

Tanner

Recall reading this and it made a lot of sense. Consumers don't typically have the larger picture and thus they kick and scream like babies demanding a better price.

Plus there are contracts that dictates a fixed exchange rate so it protects them from fluctuations, unfortunately sometimes not favourable to the consumer.