I emailed a foreign auto mfgr a while back to ask the same question, "why are your cars so much cheaper in the states than in Canada being that they aren't manufactured in either country." They responded that pricing was dependent upon what that particular market will bear. It is not as simple as exchange rates. (this is also why the US gets longer warrantees than us. Kia and Hyundai warrantees are double in the US)
Sometimes it is in our favor:
If you recall, back when the "new" Ford T-bird was introduced US dealerships couldn't keep them in stock--they were selling for $10-15K over sticker price. Ford had priced them similarily in $Cda as in $USD, and quite a few people were buying them for $50K Canadian, driving them across the boarder and selling them to US dealers or buyers for $60USD! An easy $20K USD profit at the time (with exchange rate). Ford started making Canadian buyers sign contracts that they wouldn't resell their T-birds for 2 months. US dealers also stopped hono
uring warrantees from cars originating in Canada!
Back to the original topic... I don't know all the details but the importing of a "new" vehicle into Canada would make that vehicle succeptable to GST, PST (if your province has it) and duty (20% I believe). This is the reason everyone lies about the value of the goods they are bringing back from cross boarder shopping trips. Kinda hard to hide an S3 under the spare tire though...
I think that the rules on importing a "used" vehicle are much more lax...dunno how old it has to be though. I would guess 6mo.
check out
Canadian Government
