I decided to get a new hybrid car as my Buick lease expired in April (apologies to folks in Oshawa, but this has been coming for a while, and GM has had its hands over its eyes). I checked out the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, and Nissan Altima Hybrid - the 3 best for fuel efficiency. But I also checked out their US prices. The Honda carried about a 15% premium in Canada, the Prius about 30% and the Nissan a full 35% - $34,998 sticker in Canada vs $25,170 in the US. Toyota seems to have reduced the markup, but its still not very good.
I preferred the Nissan and was prepared to pay more for it than the others, but not if I had to accept that kind of insult to my intelligence.
Could I import the Nissan? No! Transport Canada won't allow it because the US model is specified differently than the Canadian model (CMVSS215) - but wait till you hear what the  difference is. Clue #1: both cars are built in North Carolina.
What is the spec difference? The bumper on the US model will survive a 2.5 mph impact, but the bumper on the Canadian model must survive an 8km/h impact - seriously!!!! I even found a Canadian Government website which recommended eliminating this ridiculous barrier as part of the trade harmonization they are plotting - that's actually where I found the details of the spec differences. So you wonder if the 35% Nissan premium is to pay for the Nissan Canada head office staff to work with Transport Canada to impose specs like this.
The Nissan dealer wouldn't even reduce their price to the level of Honda's 15% premium, so I own a Honda now.