So my question is who has been stopping this in Canada to this point? If there is a huge pent up demand for these types of cars, then why don't companies that already operate and import cars - like Nissan, simply import some?
Canadian Auto Dealers: What If We Sold EU, Korean and Japanese Cars Not Found in the U.S.?
- Thread starter Oillover
- Start date
I suspect there's some advantages to offering the same vehicle line up in the US and Canada? Until quite recently it didn't really matter where their N.A. headquarters is, so it makes sense to try to convert the canadian 10% of the N.A. market to US buying patterns, or just ignore the preferences of the Quebec market?
For sure Canadians are influenced by US advertising and there's lot of folks here are quite happy buying big expensive trucks and SUV's, but personally, I'd rather see Canada going towards the EU regulations which makes these a less attractive choice. Also for environmental and economic reasons, if we can all get where we need to go in a more fuel efficient way, then I think that's a good thing, and also it means people have more money for something else.
Advantage for who?
For companies with factories here sure. But why are companies like Mits or Kia (who only makes a couple models here anyway) not doing so? There importing other cars from elsewhere already - why not import the other stuff if there is demand?
The market in Canada is not huge. At least the way I see it a population of 40 million people which is the same as the state of California spread out over a wide area.
I couldn’t see a rush of competition heading there as you would need a large dealer network to cover few car sales. Except in localized cities.
I couldn’t see a rush of competition heading there as you would need a large dealer network to cover few car sales. Except in localized cities.
The vast majority live in a few large cities. It’s not much different than the USA there just further apart.
Would you really want a vehicle that was driven on highly salted roads for the first 4 years of it's life?
About 15% of vehicles sold in Canada eventually are exported to the USA. The dollar difference makes it enticing. I see semi’s loaded with pickups headed south to the border crossing an hour away everyday. Most are sold in the northern States. The Alberta trucks are no worse than the trucks in Idaho and Montana as far as rust goes. As for the east, an Ontario truck is not much different than a Michigan truck for corrosion. Not many make it down to the Sun Belt.
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So they are rust buckets as I suspected?
Are Michigan trucks rust buckets in four years?
Manufacturers have always been free to sell different cars in Canada and the United States. The regulations are different - for example, Canada had daytime running lights a long time ago as a requirement in many of the provinces.
The practical reality is, that the Canadian market is relatively small, so tailoring vehicle distribution to a small market may not have been economically viable for a manufacturer.
Peugot, for example, left both the US and Canada at the same time. Creating a different vehicle to comply with different regulations in the US (as opposed to Europe), simply wasn’t worth it to them. They viewed the market as “North America”.
The perspective is shared across many European vehicle manufacturers. Volvo, for example, or Mercedes, talks about “North American“ vehicles, not US or Canadian.
I believe the Provinces never had the rights to mandate any differences in vehicle design. Only the Feds had that right. The Provinces could mandate snow tires however.
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Yes, there has been quite a few extra barriers to jump over to get a car model into the N.A. market, so just bringing one to Canada is even more difficult to make money on.
But we'll see what happens, but if Canada isn't going to be importing/exporting many/any vehicles with the US, it probably makes sense just to jump to euro/ROW standards and then manufacturers could import whatever they think will sell here, with no extra certifications or modifications needed, and we could build vehicles for the ROW.
Anyways, I just like the vehicle selection the EU gets, or even tiny markets like NZ, or Costa Rica. KISS cars like my mtx Focus wagon which are still available in other places, and would probably still sell well in Quebec and the atlantic provinces for a reasonable price, if it was just the same vehicle they sold in the ROW.
Maybe someone can chime in from Australia. At one time they had a domestic auto manufacturing industry lined up with Ford and GM ( Holden) mostly. They had some very original cars. Unfortunately they didn’t have the proximity and integration that Canada has with the USA. Eventually the plants were closed but they now have left drive imports coming from places like Japan and Europe and some of the are much different from what is available in the USA. More thoughts from our Aussie Bitoggers?
The Canary in the mineshaft will be the Stellantis plant in Ontario assembling the Charger with parts from both Canada and the USA. The headquarters for Stelantis is in the EU so they can be slightly more independent than US based companies. The plant will have a hard time if they can’t export to the USA. To keep the plant alive Canadians will be encouraged to purchase them ( Go Granny Go! ) and they may also be exported to the EU. I’ll bet they would be a hit in Australia! They are currently making the two door EV model and plans were to add the four door and two versions of the twin turbo “ 6 pack” with up to 550 HP. Time will tell. You can be sure Stellantis will be financially encouraged to stay in Canada and manufacture cars that are not as hairy as the Charger and perhaps end up with a “Canadian Car” that is suitable for export to the EU. Shipping time from Halifax to Antwerp is nine days. 
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