ZR1 MSRP cheaper in Canada, if you can find one?
 

I sold my Z06 last fall to spend the winter focusing on buying a ZR1 in Canada. Through the process of trying to buy one, I have found 2 differences in the ZR1 markets in the US and Canada, and thought I'd should share them here:

1) A new ZR1 is harder to find in Canada:
I have monitored the Canadian Autotrader site and even contacted the dealers who show up as having a car for sale on the 2019 Corvette ZR1 registry:
https://www.corvetteactioncenter.com...rvette-zr1.php
No results so far. There have been a couple available, but not what I was looking for (they were 1ZR or didn't have ZTK)

A similar search of the US Autotrader site lists over 100 new ZR1's for sale:
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...&firstRecord=0

2) Canadian MSRP for a ZR1 is significantly less than the American MSRP:
I built the same ZR1 on the US and Canadian Chevrolet websites and found a significant difference in pricing. I built a 3ZR with ZTK, A8 and competition seats, black on black with black wheels, on both sites. The US site MSRP was ~$142,000 USD ($184,000 CAD) and the Canadian site was ~$126,000 USD ($163,000 CAD) for the same car, using currency exchange of 1.3 CAD to USD. I guess this only matters if I could find one here. I'd understand this price difference if the USD/CAD exchange rate had taken a sudden leap from 1.1 to 1.3, but the Canadian dollar has been trading around/above 1.3 since 2015.

With spring around the corner, I might just have to go buy another new Z06/Z07 (there are lots of those around) and see what Chevy does for 2020....

The Canadian Dollar...Loonie is discount to the US Dollar...meaning equal goods made in America and sold in Canada should be higher priced in Canadian Dollars...A trip to a Chevy Store with one in stock, and a quick photo of the MSRP Sticker should tell us all...

Up until 2013 the Corvettes priced in Canada were higher than US and many Canadians were importing Corvettes from the US and taking advantage of this pricing imbalance. When the 2014 C7’s first were released GM Canada priced the car based on the then “par” currency exchange rate and intending to discourage the grey market US to Canada imports.

But... currency soon moved and continued to shift... ending where we are now (currently @ 1.33 exchange rate)... yet Canadian MSRP has not adjusted in accordance... so it’s now nearly $20,000 cheaper for us in Canada to buy a loaded C7 or CTS-V. Canadian cars can easily be shipped back to the US for a profit.

GM partially controls this by severely limiting the number of these vehicles it ships to Canada for sale. Of the estimated 2,000 unit production of 2019 ZR1’s forecast, GM originally stated that only about 60-80 units would be offered in a Canada... far short of the normal 10% allocation. The same situation occurred for the Z06 in the first two years... in Canada they were nearly impossible to buy. Not until the 2017 model year did we start to see them available in Canada, and only after US inventories were sitting unsold.

mine loaded to the tits with the dual roof option came to 172K Canadian MSRP. ZTK Sebring orange fully optioned.

Mine was the same... $172,000 Canadian dollars = $128,656.23 US dollars at today’s exchange rate.

That’s over $20,000 US dollars less than what same car sells for in the US.

Rob P and Questar, congrats on getting Canadian allocations! I think I needed to be in the market a year ago to get one here.

The Canadian pricing is a “steal” and should be a huge incentive for anyone sitting on the fence about getting one even “close” to MSRP IMO.

I am officially out of the new ZR1 market. Nothing left in Canada. Again, congrats to anyone who got one here.

Looks like my next car will be a C8. With a ZR1 budget, I should be able to get one of those here.

Just curious, is there a gas guzzler tax in Canada?

Yes. There is. That’s factored into the price difference

No there isn't... just a $100 "Excise Tax - Air Conditioning" and $2,000 "Destination" fee (freight charge).

Just for "comparison"... $170,080.00 Canadian dollars is the equivalent (right now) of @ $126,045.87 US dollars.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...b549b2f2b3.jpg

LOL... I had my name put on "the list" for one back when GM announced the car was going to be built and sold. My "pre-order" was confirmed with my dealer within hours of GM notifying Canadian dealers what their "allocations" were expected to be for the upcoming year. My order was put into the GM order system the morning that GM opened their system to accept Canadian dealer orders/bookings and confirmed by GM quickly thereafter (@ Jan 2018 if memory serves).

I received my notification of "build week estimate" sometime around Feb 2018 (originally supposed to be built in March 2018... but GM later pushed it back to April 2018).

GM shipped the car end of April 2018.

By the time my car arrived most Canadian "allocations" were already spoken for... only a few became available as people defaulted on their orders or GM increased the final allocation numbers for Canada. It was obvious from the start that getting a 2019 ZR1 in Canada ("new" not used or imported) was going to be difficult. Simply not enough supply shipped to Canada to meet the demand. If memory serves GM originally forecast that only @ 60 units would be shipped to Canada for the entire 2019 model year run. As it turned out they increased that number substantially (to over 100 I believe), but that still didn't meet demand.

The "Excise Tax on Fuel-Inefficient Vehicles" is Canada's gas guzzler tax. To be taxed, the car has to have a combined mileage of greater than 13 litres/100km (less than 18 mpg). The automatic Z06 (my car) just made it under the limit at 12.975. Looks like the ZR1 got away with no fee (it's not on the most recent list). I'm not sure how they added 100 HP and didn't affect mileage. The Camaro ZL1's have been hit with a gas guzzler tax:
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...9aa5a24cc4.png
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...dcce3908d2.png
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...5f2280100b.png

Yup, Zl1 is a unicorn, I too gave up on getting one

There are a couple of new ZR1's for sale now with 3ZR/ZTK at Canadian dealers starting at ~$124K USD ($167 CAD)

What dealers (specifically)? I’m not aware of an available (new) ZR1 in Canada for a long time now.

A quick Autotrader search shows:
Carter Chev in Burnaby: https://www.autotrader.ca/a/chevrole...T3H0Y7&sprx=-1
Birchwood Chev in Winnipeg: https://www.autotrader.ca/a/chevrole...T3H0Y7&sprx=-1

LOL... if you’re relying on autotrader for the info then I suggest you call those dealers to confirm if they actually have the car and confirm that it’s available for sale. Every case I’ve heard of the ads were bait and switch... cars were not actually available and/or pre-sold.

I’d be VERY surprised if any of those were actually available to buy. Only ones I’ve seen for months now were used ZR1’s being sold privately st $199,999.00 and one of those recently sold... at those prices.

I was on the books with an order for over 2.5 years and didn’t get one.
Looks like used some time in the future.

Just spoke with Carter Chev in BC. The car is there, at that price.