The king of Canadian automotive industry analysts, Dennis Desrosiers, takes a look at some recent data published by Statistics Canada on 2007 car sales and, after crunching his own numbers, observes:
.. the average weeks of before-tax family income needed to purchase a new vehicle in Canada dropped to 18.9 weeks … the lowest level since 1991. So relative to before-tax income Canadians paid almost the same for a new vehicle in 2007 as they did in 1991. Not a bad deal, especially since vehicles are vastly superior today from virtually all perspectives (design, performance, content, build quality etc) than in 1991.
The OEMs [original equipment manufacturers, like General Motors and Toyota] are providing spectacular value to the consumer … pure and simple. And these stats dispel the notion that somehow the OEMs have taken advantage of the consumer relative to changes in exchange rates. Yes, many vehicles on a pure exchange rate basis have become a little higher priced in Canada than in the US but the OEMs have responded and lowered prices and with all the lower MSRP prices announced this year already and the heavy discounting in the market that has been in place for a number of years .. the consumer is winning and winning big.