I think he meant those comments to mean that if we all shop for BMWs in the US, the Canadian dealers won't be able to afford to provide the same level of service they are right now (less revenue for the dealership = cost cutting measures). Though I wonder about that, since we always here that a dealer makes the majority of its profits through service and used cars, not new car sales...
If this is true how would it harm Canadian dealers if BMW AG decided to charge Canadian dealers LESS (more in line with the cost US dealers pay) which results in lower BMW prices which results in more sales which results in greater service volume.
If they were truly concerned with Canadian dealer stability in Canada they would be concerned with getting more Canadian BMWs on the road that "Need" to come back to Canadian dealers for service. More BMWs on the road in Canada to trade up to the next level when the time comes.
What we need to remember is that BMW Canada dealers are PAYING more for the cars they sell to us. All the talk about incentives means that BMW AG is dictating what BMW Canada does. There is only so much money to go around.
Their position is Canadian cars cost more because we are getting $xxxxx of the 10 K difference put into incentives and financing deals etc.
So a BMW dealer in Canada pays 40 K for a 5 series but is able to offer 4% lease rate.
A US BMW dealer pays 30 K for a 5 series but gets no offers from the manufacturer for low finance rates?
I was not able to easily find the current Canadian BMW lease rates (maybe some else can enlighten me) but examples from other makes
Spotted in the Boston Globe was an advertised GMAC lease on a 2007 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 4x4 for $249 per month, while a GMAC SmartLease on a similar Chevy pickup truck in Ontario costs about $400 per month (with $2,000 down in both cases).
Indicates that the "incentive" argument is likely crap. US dealers offer incentives, family pricing discounts subsidized lease rates too as far as I know.
If a dealer can manage to lease the same Vehicle in the US for 150 a month less there is something going on. The argument that yeah they have a lower price but can't match our incentives doesn't hold watter because what consumers care about is the bottom line. We don't care if the price of the car is reduced from 25000 to 20000 due to a 5000 factory to dealer incentive or because the dealer paid 5000 LESS for the car with no incentive.