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Record sales of new vehicles in Canada is proof that new cars in this country are not overpriced, says auto analyst Dennis DesRosiers, despite the fact that irate consumers are burning up online message boards, Canadian call centres and his own e-mail inbox with angry messages about feeling ripped off by Canadian prices that can be as much as 40-per-cent higher than their U.S. counterparts, even with the Canadian dollar at par with the American one.

"The correct price for a vehicle is what the consumer will pay for it in Canada, not what a consumer will pay in another country," DesRosiers said in a recent e-mail, calling the whole debate a "non-issue" because, high or not, people have been buying cars in huge numbers. "If enough consumers sit on their hands, then the market will adjust."

DesRosiers gamely forwarded a selection of views from consumers who had angrily e-mailed him over the issue, scoffing at his view that price levels in Canada are not a major issue, and that there are no significant savings to be had by buying south of the border.

Some disputed DesRosiers' argument that most of the egregious price differences were on high-end luxury vehicles, with one citing an average difference of 29 per cent even with a collection of 24 different mainstream vehicles from Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan and BMW, even after local rebates, which worked out to an average difference of $8,000 more paid in this country than south of the border.

Thousands of messages on this topic have been posted in the past year on online forums, with interest skyrocketing right along with the loonie. Many of the posts are from buyers who have gone through the process of buying a new or barely used car in the United States, sometimes complete with posted receipts and warranty letters, with many reports of buyers saving anywhere from $5,000 on mid-size sedans to $40,000 on luxury V-8 SUVs, even after paying taxes, importation fees and exchange rates.

Buyers interested in importing a vehicle can go to www.riv.ca , the site of the Registrar of Imported Vehicles, which details the steps needed to import an American vehicle into Canada.

Besides the RIV fees — $195 plus tax — importing owners must pay taxes and import duties on the car, plus the cost of any modifications necessary, such as adding daytime running lights, 8 km/h bumpers and a child tether anchor.

The RIV offers seminars on how to import a vehicle, although one poster this week reported that all seminars were full, and that they are working to add more seminars to meet the demand.

Unfortunately, judging by the early 2008 prices that have been released, most manufacturers are much less interested in rebalancing Canadian MSRPs much closer to American ones any time soon. Most auto makers stick to the popular "priced competitively against its competition" line when questioned about it directly.

VW to offer hybrid options

Volkswagen's head of development has apparently told a German car magazine that all future VW vehicles will be built to accommodate hybrid power trains, even while the company is hedging its bets with advanced diesel and full-on electric vehicles as well.

These hybrids will likely arrive in the form of a hybrid Touareg, where the development dollars can be shared with Porsche, which reportedly will get a version of this power train for its SUV and Panamerica sedan.

The Up! concept car just released at the Frankfurt show will be offered to the public in both mild and full hybrid versions by 2011, according to a separate report in trade journal Automotive News, although VW has still not officially confirmed that the rear-engine son-of-Old-Beetle will be available in North America.

CDs heading out to pasture?

After a media preview last week of all the different ways Ford's new Sync system could play music — from a direct plug-in to your iPod, off a USB stick, or from a Bluetooth-enabled cellphone or laptop, the future of music portability seemed somewhat clear, not counting radio and satellite radio options.

"Makes you wonder how long people will bother with CDs," said the marketing manager for the Sync program.

On the heels of the Sync system, which will be introduced on half of Ford's lineup this fall (and the rest by next year), at least one aftermarket player has also questioned the need for CDs, and the extra step involved in converting downloaded MP3 files on to shiny discs.

German audio heavy hitter Blaupunkt has just released a CD-less head unit that replaces that media with an SD slot, as well as optional hookups for iPods, USB and Bluetooth connections.