i wonder why canadien kenmore washers where diffrent from the us models?

I believe most of the Kenmore vacuums sold in Canada were US built from the get go in 1955 when Sears arrived in Canada partnering with Simpsons. While there were numerous Canadian firms already producing laundry equipment prior to that there weren't many vacuum cleaner makers probably of the size to handle retooling etc to make them. There was a company called Switson Industries who made vacuums for Eatons and possibly others etc.. but I'm at a loss right this moment to think if they made Eureka clones etc. and if they did that might have prevented them from making Kenmore clones. With the inability to find a Canadian manufacturer to build them may have relieved them of having to pay a tariff on those US imports or at least not as big a one.

As well since the Canadian market was and is vastly smaller we never and still don't always get the full US model line up. Instead, rather than say the 5 available US models of a dishwasher we only got 3,, the basic, the middle of the line and the top of the line.. However they would often and still do add somethings from the tol model to the middle of the line model sold in Canada

You find it still happening in cars today. The standard features in the Canadian version can be quite different than the US model.. sometimes we get the better deal, sometimes not.


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Post# 917932 1/28/2017 at 07:58 (2,637 days old) by Pierreandreply4 (St-Bruno de montarville (province of quebec) canada)
Checkrate/Likes hello to all kenmore expert of aw, I wonder why where canadien kenmore of vintage era 1976 kenmore washers and 1988 kenmore washers models where diffrent then the us models until the direct drive models where made i think the only kenmore brand appliance that where the same for canada and the us where the dm dishwashers so the question is where these washers made in the us but with a particular design exclusif to canada or did kenmore made these models only in canada for the canadien market? Thank you for any answers Credit to some members who picture i am using that i have saved on my pc Photos... < > Photo 1 of 4 View Full Size

Post# 917937 , Reply# 1 1/28/2017 at 08:37 (2,637 days old) by vacerator (Macomb, Michigan)
Checkrate/Likes *Hmmm,* maybe Simpson Sears designed the consoles, or Inglis designers? Those chromed knobs are identical to American Kenmore from that era.

Post# 918638 , Reply# 2 2/1/2017 at 17:18 (2,633 days old) by CircleW (NE Cincinnati OH area)
Checkrate/Likes I'd imagine the reason the cabinet was different had to do with tooling costs. In the US, Whirlpool only used that design on the lower front on the '57 thru '60 models, along with an indented design near the top. Kenmore in the US never used that cabinet syle. Since there would have been many more machines made in the US factories, they could justify a newer cabinet syle earlier than in Canada.

Post# 918684 , Reply# 3 2/1/2017 at 20:48 (2,633 days old) by whirlykenmore78 (Prior Lake MN (GMT-0500 CDT.))
Checkrate/Likes *Could be that the machines were made and sold:* By separate entities. In the US Kenmore was made by Whirlpool Corp. and sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. In Canada Kenmore was built by Inglis and sold by Simpsons/Sears. I believe there were some made by GE as well. While the machines were the same mechanically(save for the GEs) this could account for the cosmetic differences. WK78

Post# 918764 , Reply# 4 2/2/2017 at 11:22 (2,632 days old) by potatochips ( )
Checkrate/Likes I think a lot of this has to do with pre NAFTA. Before NAFTA, Inglis made all the Kenmore, Whirlpool, and any other rebrand. It would've been too expensive with the tariffs and import taxes if Sears imported US machines. It was cheaper to send the parts up here and build it here. And in the course of building them up here, designers and engineers were able to come up with their own designs and style. Same goes for GE. As for the explanation for excessive use of symbols and colours? Bilingual language laws. Even some of the DD machines up here have a similar shape control panel as the Kenmore machines of the US, but different designed text and panel layout.

Post# 918771 , Reply# 5 2/2/2017 at 12:36 (2,632 days old) by petek (Ontari ari ari O )
Checkrate/Likes I believe most of the Kenmore vacuums sold in Canada were US built from the get go in 1955 when Sears arrived in Canada partnering with Simpsons. While there were numerous Canadian firms already producing laundry equipment prior to that there weren't many vacuum cleaner makers probably of the size to handle retooling etc to make them. There was a company called Switson Industries who made vacuums for Eatons and possibly others etc.. but I'm at a loss right this moment to think if they made Eureka clones etc. and if they did that might have prevented them from making Kenmore clones. With the inability to find a Canadian manufacturer to build them may have relieved them of having to pay a tariff on those US imports or at least not as big a one. As well since the Canadian market was and is vastly smaller we never and still don't always get the full US model line up. Instead, rather than say the 5 available US models of a dishwasher we only got 3,, the basic, the middle of the line and the top of the line.. However they would often and still do add somethings from the tol model to the middle of the line model sold in Canada You find it still happening in cars today. The standard features in the Canadian version can be quite different than the US model.. sometimes we get the better deal, sometimes not.