We’re budget-minded buyers

Posted by on Jan 25, 2012 in 14th Article, Uncategorized | 0 comments Think of Toronto as one sprawling auto mall of polished showrooms, colourful banners and snappy business-card dispensers. It has one of the highest concentrations of automobile dealerships on the continent — a boon to car shoppers who can take advantage of the unbridled competition here. With 5 million people concentrated in the Greater Toronto Area, it’s a car-hungry critical mass that has spawned 330 new-car dealers slugging it out for your dollars. “Toronto is the cheapest place in Canada to buy a car,” confirms Mark Derry, a professional auto broker who purchases vehicles on behalf of clients. And word has gotten around. Derry gets queries from far afield, places like Atlantic Canada. “I had a client come from Ottawa to buy his Infiniti G35 here,” recalls Mohamed Bouchama, executive director of consumer group Car Help Canada Download apps for free. “He saved $2,500. He could afford to fly here to pick up his car.” It would be an understatement to say Canadians are budget-conscious car buyers. Squeezed by high taxes and energy costs, we enjoy less disposable income than our neighbours to the south. When it comes to vehicle purchases, every penny counts. Lucky for us, there are more affordable cars on the Canadian market than ever before. “Manufacturers had neglected the entry-level segment for a long time,” says George Iny, president of the Automobile Protection Association (APA). “But because Toyota has done so well with its Echo, other car makers are getting on board with `B-cars’ of their own.” He points to Honda’s new Fit, the Smart car and BMW’s Mini adobe flash player download kostenlos deutsch windows 10. Chevrolet boasts three car lines (Aveo, Optra, Optra5) positioned below its former entry vehicle, the Cobalt, thanks to Asian partner Daewoo. Toyota’s Yaris (formerly Echo) family is expanding. And there’s more on the way. “When you have high-profile manufacturers entering the segment, it adds legitimacy. Consumers take notice,” says Chris Travell, vice-president of the automotive group of Maritz Research. Industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers says Canadians are rapidly abandoning the traditional mid-size market, with the majority of them shifting to surprisingly opulent entry-level vehicles like the Honda Civic and Mazda3. “Canadians are very attuned to gas prices, insurance and other costs of driving,” says DesRosiers. “The entry-level segment is growing rapidly, making up 45 per cent of the Canadian market — 50 per cent if you remove fleet sales.” “It’s...
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