undecided

Just some more info on how bad the Canadian leases are looking.

I did some currency conversions to see how much extra profit the car makers are getting on their cars in Canada. It is my understanding that the cars are essentially valued at a 1.4 to 1.6 exchange rate US to CDN. Currently, the exchange rate is 1.16 for USD to CDN. Now, I can appreciate that the car makers are not going to play the currency exchange game, and so I expect there to be a nice buffer between the actual exchange rate and the amount they charge.

Lets look at some numbers:

The BMW 325xi is $52,385 CDN, which converts to $45,260 USD. The equivalent US model is priced at $40,695 on the BMW US web site, a difference of $4,565 USD!

The IS250awd with NAV is $53,700 CDN, which converts to $46,395 USD. The equivalent US model is priced at $37,425 on the Lexus US web site, a difference of $8,970 USD!!

As far as I'm concerned, Lexus has jacked up the Canadian MSRP way beyond what would be reasonable.

Lexus, I'm just not feeling the love.

P.S. Does anyone know what the IS 250 awd is going for in Japan? The Canadian IS250 awd with NAV works out to a cost of 5,372,746 Yen.

jlin101

is there any difference in standard equipment for the Canadian IS?

shox

I think it has something to do with inspections and all that, cause all cars need to be inspected at port. Canadian ports are usually really strict when it comes to vehicles in general and will search the thing over like there's no tomorrow. Maybe that's why it costs a bit more?? I don't know, just a thought.

Gojirra99

It's not so much due to different equipment of the cars in Canada, the 2 major options Canada doesn't get are PCS & radar cruise.

Canada may charge higher tariffs, but actually the major reason Canadian cars are more expensive than comparable models in th US is the huge depreciation of the US$ against most major international curriencies, including Yen, Canadian $ & the Euro in the past 3 years. The car importers cannot increase the price of the cars by much to match the depreciation of the US$(for competitive/marketing reasons), they have to eat the difference & take lesser profits home due to the low US$.

OTOH, BOTH the Yen & the Canadian$ have risen dramatically against the US$ in the past 3 years, thus the exchange rate between the yen & the C$ didn't change by much during the same period. There's NO REASON for them to adjust the Canadian price of cars to match the lower price(due to exchange rate)of the US.

For example, the MSRP of the SC430 in the fall of 2002 was C$89K when I bought the car. At that time, the exchange rate of US/Canadian$ was about 0.63, which makes it several thousand dollars cheaper than the same identically equipped SC430 in the US.
Today, the SC430 is C$92K in Canada (price didn't increase by much in 3 years), but with the US/Canadian$ exchange rate at about 0.86, that makes the car thousands of dollars more than the same car in the US.

jlin101

move to America.

shaolin

iTrader: (2)

i feel bad for you guys up there

hope this make you feel better...

my aunt just bought a RX330 in Taiwan and she paid about 80,000 usd.

Kermee

iTrader: (1)

I was about to ask, whatever happened to the Auto Pact (tariffs). I know Toyota, BMW and a few automobile makers had an issue with high tariffs to Canada. Would be interesting how much the cost of the vehicle was actually due to auto import tariffs.

TED_FR

I can appreciate your point, looks like we are facing the same kind of problem back here in France.
Looking at www.lexus.com, I figured out that what we get here as an IS250 Pack executive would be priced at 39.235$ in the US . it converts to 32.695 €. The price tag for it in France is 46.600€ with the exact same equipment. The Pack Executive comes with17", if I want to go for 18" the extra cost would be $ 720 $ which converts to 600 €. The dealer is asking me 3.200 € which converts to $ 3840. No wonder why Lexus cars are not that popular in Europe!

We only get the 250 no 350 for us, the problem is that it delivers less torque and power than the IS300 it replaces. And for the very same price I can get a Mercedes-Benz E280 Sport Edition with 272 ps and 18".

undecided

Yes, but Canada is located right next to the USA. Is the cost of the IS in France that much different from the cost of the IS in Spain?

undecided

Thank you for this information. I don;t really follow currency much, but it is my understanding that the Euro is also rising, to the point that it is giving an advantage to the Japaneese over the Germans.

So why the smaller difference in the U.S. conversion with the BMW than the Lexus?

tim817

My friend came to Vietnam last year and paid $70,000 usd for a Mercedes C240 damn communist jack-up all the tax..

LSUFanMan

Yeah...move to America and out of your socalists Canadian utopia that redistributes your wealth via high taxes. Who wants to licve in Canada anyway? Not even Canadians really, huh? (Now be truthful!!!)

Kermee

iTrader: (1)

Is there ALWAYS an LSU fan who has to represent at EVERY forum I'm on? (Home Video/Audio forum... Gun forum...Club Lexus forum...) LOL.

spwolf

no. Both Yen and Euro are high against dollar, so only american companies benefit from this situation. I am finding it hard to believe when I read big 3 complaining about yen, when GW has been keeping USD low since he came on (30% lower since what it was under Clinton).

Also, my european friends. We all live in socialist Europe where we pay import duties on Japanese cars and huge taxes on all cars. It is not Lexus's fault that your goverment is protecting EU factories. And I find it hard to believe that that C350 comes anywhere close to equipment of IS executive at the same price. Base price without duties and taxes is actually very similar or same to US price.

Canadians also have some import duty that US doesnt have... And since we have canadians complaining about it everywhere, why dont you do something about it? its your problem.