Well, it doesn't look like it will. With the canadian dollar being nearly on par with the American dollar, everyone has expected the canadian price to be the same as the US MSRP.

The rumors going around are talking about the Canadian markets adjusting thier prices to correspond with the strong dollar. But, unfortunately for our canadian neighbohrs, Robert Dexter, a spokesperson for BMW Canada has given them no hope.

He says adjusting prices to reflect currency fluctuations can introduce "instability" in the marketplace, impacting the residual values of leased vehicles and ticking off owners who purchased earlier at higher prices.

Then there's the negative perception of falling prices, Dexter says, which can hurt an upscale image.

"There's a reluctance to discount, which can affect the `premium' brand," he says. Rather than tinker with sticker prices, BMW and other manufacturers prefer to give Canadians more product features for the same price. "We've made efforts to address the currency (valuation) by adding content to our products," Dexter says. "Base models are better equipped in Canada than in the U.S."

 

He explains the reason Canadians will never see identical prices on both sides of the border is because the cost of doing business in the Great White North is higher.

"The U.S. has economies of scale with 10 times the population. Marketing costs are higher here by doing everything in two languages. There is only one port of entry in Canada (for BMW), while there are three or four in the U.S. Taxes are higher here."