Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Canadian Currency is doing very bad, at least it is doing pretty bad against Japanese Yen. Month ago $10000 CAD was almost equivalent to 1 Mill Yen, now it is only worth 830,000 yen. Due to poor currency performance, it will affect many business and price will start to go up on everything. Are you feeling the heat already?

Aside from stating the obvious, what's your point?

It's the glass half full/half empty attitude. Antother way of looking at it will be they will still remain a very lucrative alternative to buying a new vehicle, and people that may have been considering a new vehicle or maybe a camper, fifth wheel or motorhome may look at their anemic wallet and consider other options such as JDM Imports.

Edit: Oops, 'JDM Imports' may be an unfortunate choice of words, let me rephrase that to "Importing a JDM Vehicle'.

mdrive wrote:Canadian Currency is doing very bad, at least it is doing pretty bad against Japanese Yen. Month ago $10000 CAD was almost equivalent to 1 Mill Yen, now it is only worth 830,000 yen. Due to poor currency performance, it will affect many business and price will start to go up on everything. Are feeling the heat already?

Doesn't change much for the end customer. Currency has always been fluctuating against the Yen.

JDM prices haven't fluctuated much in the past 4 years, same as imports sold here.

I don't see any reason why JDM prices would go up while imports remain the same.

the prices for vehicles allready here might stay the same, but new ones will go up for sure, the cost of gasoline in japan is 2 dollars a liter now and its normally matched with us here in bc, the cost of diesel is HUGE there right now, the cost of diesel to transport the vehicle to the shipping offices has gone up, so transport in japan has gone up alot, the cost of transport either roro or container has gone up from the high fuel costs, our dollar has dropped 20% so far, shipping charges are in USD. agriculture Canada is refusing vehicles with dust on them that can add up just on the trip, Its becoming alot more expensive to bring them across, and with the high cost of fuel the older vehicles are becoming more popular over in japan, the Kei vehicles over there (mini trucks-cars) are becoming more sought after for there good milage. so for those that want the L400, it could be alot more money than the L300 has been to get and bring over, yes there will always be deals on the buying of some vehicles, but the shipping costs are going through the roof, and new vehicles Will be more money , its the add on price at the end, the freight , pdi , all of it thats tacked on in the end of the deal.


one way to combat some of these this is to do group buys if the parts have to come from japan, share the cost of shipping over a few people so your not paying the transport costs alone,
Im doing a shared load right now so I dont have to fill a whole 40ft container my self or even a 20 ft one, Just a thought, if say people want to order a bulk order of say, Upper ball joints, they arent cheap and shipping is big dollars as they are bulky , or order transmission mounts, I have Yet to see a delica with good trans mounts or engine mounts, I know some are out there as I sell more mounts that oil filters,
Just an idea.

tomanique wrote:Aside from stating the obvious, what's your point?

This looks like the point,

mdrive wrote:Are feeling the heat already?

Nice attitude about it though.... real friendly.

As a trader in forest product commodities let me chime in on this one since I hear this comment time and time again from my customers (more often as an excuse to lower prices when the Yen weakens against the Canadian dollar).

Currency both matters, and doesn't matter - depending a variety of factors. Or, put another way, it matters - but not in a direct one to one relationship. The single most important point at the end of the day is quite simply the market itself - how many people wish to own a delica and what are they willing to pay for the option to own such a vehicle. While a weakening Canadian currency will in fact raise the prices for the purchasing and import of these JDM vehicles to our shores, the "market" will determine whether or not those costs will be passed onto the consumer or not. As long as there are parties / companies / individuals willing to absorb these costs, and there are consumers willing to pay for the product at a specific price, then currency has little impact - until the point at which nobody makes any money and either people then pay up - or the market itself comes to an end. And both alternatives are a distinct possibility and will depend on how much the currency weakens.

Oh, and by the way - currency for the past 4 yrs has averaged 100 yen to the Canadian buck - with a high of 124 and a low of 83 - today it is 86. I don't recall any massive price drops when the yen was running 124, and I don't suspect any massive price increases now that the yen is at 86. Just my 2 yen!!!!

I think his point is simpler than many of you are making it to be.

At 100Yen/1CDN (ie if you purchased 2 weeks ago)
Vehicle @ 700,000yen = $7000

At 83Yen/1CDN (ie if you purchased today)
Vehicle @ 700,000yen = $8433

Difference = $1433 (or +20%) = ouch

His point is also very clear.

When the Yen was down to 83, prices didn't go up here for the end customer.

When the Yen was up to 124, prices didn't go down here for the end customer.

This fluctuation is no different today.

Since importing my first JDM 4 years ago to the last one earlier this year, the only difference in cost was the shipping/freight insurance. The acutal cost of the JDM's in Japan didn't change much and neither should they here unless shipping costs are shooting up.

jfarsang wrote:His point is also very clear.

When the Yen was down to 83, prices didn't go up here for the end customer.

When the Yen was up to 124, prices didn't go down here for the end customer.

This fluctuation is no different today.

Since importing my first JDM 4 years ago to the last one earlier this year, the only difference in cost was the shipping/freight insurance. The acutal cost of the JDM's in Japan didn't change much and neither should they here unless shipping costs are shooting up.

I agree. I didn't see importers passing on a big price break when the yen was high. Nor should they pass on the added expense when the yen is low.

... that being said, I'm sure many might try, because that is what too many businesses do (especially gas companies ). When a variable like currency or crude fluctuates in their favour (I'm not talking about inflation here), they raise the price of the end product. When it fluctuates in the consumer's favour, rarely do we see them change their prices, and if they do, it's a smaller amount.

As an exporter - we've seen ocean freights (in the form of fuel surcharges mostly) go up quite dramatically during the first 3 quarters of 2008. Now, the price for a container from Vancouver to Japan is dropping quite quickly due to a slowing overall economy and thus less container traffic. I'm not sure if that is the case for a container from Japan to Vancouver or not since I'm not an importer - but logic would suggest this is the case. So, an importer may be facing less buying power with a weak Canadian dollar, but should be seeing a break on the cost of shipping these days. Again, not sure if that is the case or not since rates normally have more to do with where the container lines wish to have empty containers (eg, I used to ship lumber to Hong Kong for $75 a container....yes, $75...it covered the admin costs for the shipping line since they were planning to move empty containers from Vcr to Hong Kong at that time anyway - rare, but it can happen). Anyway - my point again is that there are many variables in a constant state of change and nothing is as simple as change to A = change to B - market are more complex and simply don't work that way.

Bump:

All the world's major currencies have depreciated steeply against the U.S. dollar recently, except for the Japanese yen. The yen has gained 7.6 per cent against the greenback since July, while the euro and the Canadian dollar have both lost 25 per cent.

The soaring of the yen is raising the most concern around the globe, since the stronger currency will make Japanese exports prohibitively expensive.

The Group of Seven countries issued a brief comment early Monday, likely at Japan's behest, saying they are all concerned about the yen.

“We are concerned about the recent excessive volatility in the exchange rate of the yen and its possible adverse implications for economic and financial stability,” the group, comprising the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, said.

While the comment hints that intervention to depreciate the yen could be in store, currency markets largely brushed off the comment, since strategists feel the G7 won't back up its verbal intervention with real money. Mr. Malyon said.

Plus, G7 authorities recognize that currency interventions are rarely successful, added Mr. Strauss.

The past few days have seen many emerging market authorities intervening in foreign exchange markets to support their domestic currencies. The Bank of Canada has not made any such move since 1997.

tomanique wrote:Aside from stating the obvious, what's your point?

Justification for increasing prices...

Can't really say that I blame'em, but it sure comes off as underhanded when you read it.

His point is also very clear.

When the Yen was down to 83, prices didn't go up here for the end customer.

When the Yen was up to 124, prices didn't go down here for the end customer.

This fluctuation is no different today.

Since importing my first JDM 4 years ago to the last one earlier this year, the only difference in cost was the shipping/freight insurance. The acutal cost of the JDM's in Japan didn't change much and neither should they here unless shipping costs are shooting up.

This statement doesn't make sence. Regardless what the price is in Japan, the fluctution in the Cdn$/Yen immediately impacts the price a person in Canada would pay if they are importing themselves. When the dollar is strong to the Yen, you pay less. Right now we would be paying 20%+ more for an identical unit in Canadian dollars than a month ago. Also contrary to your observations, I would say the unit cost in Japan (at Auctions and Japan Dealers) has risen quite a bit since I started importing back in 2004.

The prices that Dealers charge has had nothing to do with the exchange rate over the last few years if thats what you mean. Dealer prices have been far more impacted by supply and demand. Prices of landed units were much higher in 2004-2005 due to the low supply (I remember Penticton Toyota selling many Toyota Prados for $15-18,000...ouch). Today, as a result of competition, the prices of landed units are much cheaper (or have had a lot of extra maintanence done to them to support a higher price tag).