Strong loonie drives Porsche prices down(CBC news)

[linbo95]

It is a good thing:) , but I still can't afford a Porsche>:( .

If you've been hopelessly ogling a sweet new Porsche, it's no longer quite as far out of reach.

Porsche announced Tuesday plans to lower prices by an average of about eight per cent on its 2008 models to better reflect the loonie's strength.

"We cannot ignore our customers and dealers in Canada who can look to the U.S. and recognize a substantial price difference," said Peter Schwarzenbauer, president and CEO of Porsche Cars North America, Inc., in a release Tuesday.

"We listened to the market and did what is best for our customers in Canada."

Porsche's 2008 Cayenne Tiptronic is now priced at $59,400; the 2006/2007 manufacturer's suggested retail price was $64,300.

The Canadian dollar reached parity with the U.S. greenback for the first time in almost 31 years on Sept. 20. Since then, it has hovered a little under parity. U.S. retailers have reported a boom in business, while Canadian consumers have complained that retailers at home haven't changed sticker prices to reflect the current exchange rate.

In particular, some car shoppers have crossed the border to purchase vehicles, saying even with duties and taxes, U.S. prices are notably lower.

But industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers last week released a report suggesting cross-border car shopping may not save consumers much money as Canadian prices in certain segments have fallen. He also noted Canadian dealers have been offering aggressive incentives, lowering the difference further.

Still, U.S. auto sales to Canadians have climbed significantly as the dollar has gained strength, with sales last year exceeding 65,000 — an increase of 50 per cent over the previous year, according to the Registrar of Vehicles operating under Transport Canada.

[onecoolloser]

Cool! Audi should do this too.. and allll the other manufacturers.

[ES_Revenge]

Even with the price drop the Cayenne Tiptronic is still a lot cheaper in the US it seems.

New Cdn Price for the Cayenne Triptronic = $59,400?

The US price is $46,400. A crazy difference of $13,000

Real nice "price drops" there Porsche... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: This 8% drop is more like a kick in the face if you ask me. Like I could understand a few thousand more perhaps, but $13k? Ridiculous.

Also how about VAG brings down the price of it's more mainstream cars?

Like for example, the GTI? That car starts at $22,220 in the US but here it starts at $29,575. A difference of $7,3xx I believe. :rolleyes:

[afzan]

they can't lower prices too fast because that would affect all the people who bought new cars last year, used car values would plummet overnight.

If they lower prices slowly over a couple of years then they reduce that effect

[ES_Revenge]

they can't lower prices too fast because that would affect all the people who bought new cars last year, used car values would plummet overnight.

If they lower prices slowly over a couple of years then they reduce that effect

Well I guess RFDers will still be purchasing these cars in the US... I mean using that excuse, by the time they "slowly lower" the prices the dollar will probably be back down again and they'll be like "oh well, time to raise the prices again!" :rolleyes:

[KawaiiTentacleBeast]

They should increase prices in the US! :lol:

Realistically if I were them I would just do what mbz did and make all US imports "unsafe".

[actng]

what they should do is give you more car for same money. i agree dropping prices over night will do more damage than good. but what they can do is include more options that isn't available in the US in the Canada cars.

but they won't do that for a multitude of reasons:

- some manufacturers already claim that they do this... "Canadian cars are packaged differently" while that is a true statement, "differently" doesn't mean "more car". it just means instead of a climatronic control, we get manual controls

- canadian market is too "small". same reason why a lot more cars are available in the US. some manufacturers have smarten up and introduced canada-only vehicles (Yaris, etc). the amount of sales in canada doesn't justify a separate production line.

- the majority of canadians won't be buying from the US due to ambiguity of process and "rules"... the process of importing a car, what to do first with regards to insurance and registration, warranty coverages, etc etc.

- the canadian arm of manufacturers usually take business direction from the US, they have no power when it comes to price setting or anything important. the reason why our car prices are so much higher was mainly because of our currency used to sit at $1.50 = $1. the US manufacturers had to protect the US dealers and ensure americans didn't come north of the border to buy cars... so they made sure the prices were exactly where they need to be to negate any savings from cross border shoppings. now that the situation is reversed, it'll take some time for someone at canadian HQ to have the balls to bring the issue and suggest a solution to americas HQ.

it's the same issue with computer parts. you'll find that the C$ cost of some parts are still 1.5x that of the US.

[Azxster]

Soo... its true, there is 13K in savings for a Cayenne Tiptronic w/ Bixonon HID, Heated Front Seats & Steering Wheel, Memory seats, whereas the Canadian doesn't even have the Heated Steering wheel in this 13K savings.

Unbelievable... but its true that many will not buy from US due to ambiguity in rules and fear of what to do.

[VivienM]

Even with the price drop the Cayenne Tiptronic is still a lot cheaper in the US it seems.

New Cdn Price for the Cayenne Triptronic = $59,400?

The US price is $46,400. A crazy difference of $13,000

Real nice "price drops" there Porsche... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: This 8% drop is more like a kick in the face if you ask me. Like I could understand a few thousand more perhaps, but $13k? Ridiculous.

Also how about VAG brings down the price of it's more mainstream cars?

Porsche builds all their vehicles in Germany, no?

The US dollar is not worth much in terms of Euros these days, so they're probably getting screwed (or at least not making big $$$) on US sales.

I think what they did is look at how the Canadian dollar did compared to the euro, and adjust their prices based on that. This seems perfectly fair to me - at least if the U.S. prices get a corresponding hike shortly. :)

[Jon Lai]

Porsche builds all their vehicles in Germany, no?

The US dollar is not worth much in terms of Euros these days, so they're probably getting screwed (or at least not making big $$$) on US sales.

I think what they did is look at how the Canadian dollar did compared to the euro, and adjust their prices based on that. This seems perfectly fair to me - at least if the U.S. prices get a corresponding hike shortly. :)

Well, I would've increased the US price instead. I won't be able to afford a Porsche anyways, but I love to see how the Americans get tortured for unfair pricing when we've had it all along XD