here's my thoughts re the price increase:
1. yes, they need to increase the price for next year (they are already taking reservations for then - fall of 2013) so they are not stuck selling a car at a year behind price.
2. hopefully it will increase resale as I've known companies who discount cars so much that it kills resale of existing owners vehicles
Now, for what I am really concerned about:
I'm from BC. I'm hoping to get my email in a couple weeks (P244) and praying that my car arrives before April 1st. Why? Because on that date our luxury vehicle tax comes back 3% added to our GST and PST 12%. ADD to that, that we also loose our $5k rebate from the government on April 1st... so that increases the price a-lot... so, if the car arrives on April 2nd I'm paying a ton more for my car.
Therefore, If the email comes Jan 1st and they want me to lock in, and the car is projected to arrive April 2nd, I would have no choice but to defer a few months to save up the difference on the car. BUT, if they only let me defer a month before hitting me with the new price... well, then I'm paying Price Increase + 12% + 3% + $5,000.... for a car I've been waiting for for over 3 years. And like another poster said, people who reserve today get the benefit of being able to save up for 9 months and buy the car at the lower price. It might have been smarter to wait until today to reserve in that case.
My hope is that they say you have to confirm your car by a certain calendar date rather than a number of days after getting the confirmation email. OR, let you defer once up to a certain date.
Just rambling...