Quote:
Originally Posted by BEARintheMorning 
I heard a *rumour* that US car retailers were going to try to stop Canadians from buying from their dealerships? I'm too tired to look it up to confirm or bust it. I'm no economist but it doesn't make sense to me. If it was the Canadian dealerships trying this action I'd understand it for sure.
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It can make short-term economic sense for the car manufacturers who can exert a lot of pressure on the dealerships. Here in the EU there a still relatively large differences in car prices for the same makes and models across European countries and there has been plenty of evidence of Car Manufacturers restricting supply and applying pressure to stop cross-border purchasing, especially in the 80's and 90's. Basically they make more money selling cars in the UK (with its relatively higher prices) than in say Belgium. In the UK overseas purchaser case it was a little easier as they could restrict supply of right-hand drive cars.
However it did tend to backfire, both in terms of bad publicity, a growth of a grey import market and actions by manufacturers newer to the european market such as the Japanese and Koreans. Things are a little better now
But that's off Thread ... Go Canucks ! .. the rest of the Commonwealth is rooting for you
EDIT: But of course if the reason for the stopping of Canadian purchasers is purely for biogotted reasons then even better ...it means stupid bigotted prats can go out of business ... win-win in my book