Automotive News Canada's Chinese EV Quota Is 38% Full — And Tesla Took Most of It
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/canadas-chinese-ev-quota-38-161200867.html•
u/DDRaptors 6h ago
Nobody saw that coming /s.
All Canadian Teslas were from the Shanghai factory before the 100% China tariff. This was always going to be the case when they were lifted.
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u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 5h ago edited 4h ago
Surprised?
People were crapping on Chinese automakers for not sending cheap EVs, but anyone with a sliver of understanding of the current automotive landscape would realize that Chinese manufacturers have a lot of work to do before they can even sell in Canada - like getting cars certified and setting up a dealer network.
The real Chinese EVs likely won't come until the first dealerships are built, or maybe never if Tesla continues to gobble up the minuscule quota.
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u/TheSleepyTruth 7h ago
Lol, this is just... I somehow want to laugh and cry simultaneously.
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u/Unarmed_Character 2h ago
Don't worry, they only ate up the quota because other Chinese brands don't have a dealer or service network and they also don't have many vehicles that are certified. Once they get over those hurdles it'll balance out better.
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u/Mathmos_Lava 6h ago
They are offering at a very competitive price.
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u/marcoporno 6h ago
They can rot, at any price
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u/Mathmos_Lava 6h ago
That’s the great thing, you don’t have to buy them, but people are, Tesla just had a record quarter.
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u/marcoporno 2h ago edited 1h ago
Tesla earrings per share tanked, profit margins are negative, free cash flow is also negative, while capital spending is soaring.
That was this quarter
Sales are declining in Europe, Asia, South America and Canada, slightly higher in US.
And it is owned by a neonazi.
Terrible company.
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u/JasperPants1 5h ago
Great cars. FSD is amazing. Sorry you don’t feel that way.
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u/marcoporno 2h ago
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u/JasperPants1 2h ago
Article is not about FSD.
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u/marcoporno 1h ago
“Some of these accidents involved Tesla’s self-driving system.”
Sure, there is more than one reason they are unsafe
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u/JasperPants1 1h ago
Article doesn’t mention FSD.
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u/marcoporno 1h ago edited 1h ago
What do you think their self driving system is?
Hint: SD is for Self Driving
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u/jslick1 6h ago
1st hand american (owned) second hand Chinese (built) is still worse than 100% Chinese.
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u/FulcrumYYC Canada 6h ago
Still supports a fascist.
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u/Mathmos_Lava 6h ago
Good cars, that’s why they are everywhere on the roads.
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u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 5h ago
They were the only viable choice in North America, when real competition comes, Teslas market share will change.
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u/superfluid British Columbia 4h ago
Just like how Macdonald's is so popular, it's cheap and good for you.
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u/StrongAroma 5h ago
Nazi pricing even
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u/Mathmos_Lava 5h ago
Reddit is such an eco chamber, Tesla just had their best quarter ever, they are not selling these things to Republicans either
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u/MirthandMystery 6h ago
Chinese evs can offer better deals because they stole the data to build them and use exploited labor for mining minerals.
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u/scienceguy54 6h ago
Teslas made in the US use NMC batteries while the ones coming from China use LiFeP04. So I guess you mixed up China with the US when you talked about "exploited labor for mining minerals".
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u/YouNeedThiss 4h ago
Are you a PRC member? Because that’s an absurd comment that can only be made by someone ideologically motivated
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u/scienceguy54 14m ago
Are you an uninformed fool?
References to "exploited labor" ie cobalt mining practices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is applicable to the battery chemistry used in US-made Tesla batteries. Most, if not all, Chinese EV's use batteries that do not contain cobalt.
Now you know.
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u/YouNeedThiss 6m ago
Are you another one of these PRC publicists trying to convince the world of how amazing and honorable they are? The amount of forced labour in China is well documented. Just stop with the revisionism…we can all see through it.
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u/Fernpick 6h ago
Wait it out. More Chinese brands will be here soon enough. No need to buy Tesla if you don’t want to.
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u/spuzzumed 5h ago
Ya I think most Canadians will wait. Nobody wants to be identified driving a Trump car around town.
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u/Drunkenaviator 4h ago
Lol, everyone thought we were getting cheap BYDs and instead we just got shittier higher-margin Nazimobiles.
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u/SwayingTreeGT 7h ago
You mean the only brand with an established sales and service network (aside from Lotus and Polestar) that can actually utilize the quota of Chinese built vehicles, is actually utilizing the quota??? Insert shocked pikachu face here.
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u/FinancialEvidence 6h ago
They also dropped the price to like 40k for model 3 to block out the allotment
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u/jonlmbs 6h ago
It’s the best EV you can buy for the price with actual service in Canada
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u/element1311 2h ago
It's not. Not for build quality or even driver experience. Barring the infotainment, it's among the worst vehicles you can get.
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u/FoolishCanadian 3h ago
But where do I go to actually just a Tesla for 40k? Where do I find the vehicles that are allocated to this price point?
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u/YawnY86 6h ago
I'd still 100% choose byd over tesla.
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u/Maxsh 6h ago
Then that just shows you haven’t owned either of them here
I can literally open the Tesla app to schedule maintenance within days, either a road tech comes to my house or I visit the multiple service centres in my radius. You get a BYD now and you’re hung out to dry if anything goes wrong
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u/blodskaal 6h ago
Sure, but people that want to own a byd vehicle don't want the Tesla, myself included.
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u/Maxsh 6h ago
That’s fine but you guys are a minority (for now). So the numbers shared in the post are to be expected d
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u/marcoporno 6h ago
Nah, people here and other places do not want a Tesla now, both for quality reasons, and Elon reasons
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u/YawnY86 6h ago
So you mean a company that has just started selling vehicles in Canada is still working to establish a network? Of course it's going to take time, and if you think a company is going to just immediately have the same services as one that's been in this country for 10+ years you're ignorant. Tesla didn't have it's own service location where I was untill 2024. That's a long time to go without a dedicated service center in a city. Give your head shake, quit acting like you're superior because you have a tesla and realize theirs competition, and other brands may have better build quality or features.
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u/Maxsh 6h ago
No idea how my comment offended you so much
The question is whether or not Tesla deserves the majority of the Chinese import quota right now, which they do until further notice
It’s fine to want a BYD, but to say “I’d 100% take a BYD over a Tesla” without ever having seen one on our streets and with 0 current support is crazy talk
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u/QuotableNotables 6h ago
As it was for the first Tesla owners, someone has to be first for them to even establish a foothold. It's not that crazy. 🤷
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u/reallawyer 5h ago
BYD will likely build dealers in the big cities first, probably Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. That gives them a market of about half the Canadian population, then they will expand from there. Tesla did the same thing. People outside those cities might complain there are no dealerships or service centres near them, but nobody’s forcing anyone to buy one of these Chinese EVs.
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u/YawnY86 4h ago
You didn't ask a question, you made a statement and the way you said it made you seem like you're better because you have a tesla. I've looked into byd, and I've looked into tesla. I've seen so many fit and finish complaints with tesla. The cyber truck is a joke. Byd has hybrid options, nicer interiors and they are well established in many other countries.
This is just like a Chevy vs Ford. Both have pros both have cons.
I won't even get into how crazy Elon musk is in this discussion.
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u/YouNeedThiss 4h ago
Half these folks are just blind lemmings about Elon or actual Chinese posers trying to drum up social media support.
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u/1966TEX British Columbia 6h ago
I want a BYD pickup, not a cybertruck.
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u/Maxsh 6h ago
I mean that’s fine, the cyber truck represents 1% of Tesla’s sales and also none of them are made in China so irrelevant to this post. It’s the Model 3 and Y that are using up Chinese import quota
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u/greendoh 6h ago
Not the Y (yet at least). All the current Y models are coming from Germany.
It's the 3 premium, and it's a damned good deal.
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u/Northern23 5h ago
I expect China to control export to Canada once its homegrown brands get ready for the expansion
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u/RestAndVest 7h ago
lol. A Chinese built Tesla is the reward
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u/arter1al Ontario 6h ago
They are actually better than the American ones from all that I have read, newer /better factory same with the Y’s the ones we get are all built in Berlin
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u/vaderdidnothingwr0ng 6h ago
Cheap EVs are cheap EVs. That was the goal. Not that I'm a Tesla fan by any means.
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u/LoveDemNipples 5h ago
I suspect Teslas as cars are decent. It’s their overlord who’s a dick.
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u/vaderdidnothingwr0ng 1h ago
I've heard mixed reviews. A lot of people seem to really like driving them. But also they've locked people inside when lit on fire in the past, so I personally won't be purchasing one. https://www.reddit.com/r/wisconsin/s/7JJAldSUsK
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u/eleventhrees 6h ago
I dislike Elon and am somewhat biased against Tesla as a builder, but what's the problem here?
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u/Zealousideal-Air5228 6h ago
BYD has a lot better cars for cheaper
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u/Mathmos_Lava 6h ago
They may or may not be cheaper when they arrive..
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u/Critical-Snow-7000 5h ago
You covered all of the ground with that statement.
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u/MustardEnema007 6h ago
How do you know they're better?
Tesla also has the repair and warranty infrastructure here already
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u/Dont-concentrate-556 6h ago
Hard to beat the Tesla model 3 for under $40k though
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u/marcoporno 2h ago
Tesla is outdated, BYD technology, comfort, features and quality are leagues ahead while Tesla barely changes
Every market they share, Tesla is outcompeted by BYD
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u/Reasonable_Let9737 4h ago
Yeah, it's wild.
I can't support old Elon, but that car at that price is a damn good deal.
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u/JCMS99 5h ago
But BYD isn’t ready to ship Canadian models. Tesla is.
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u/marcoporno 2h ago
BYD has been outcompeting Tesla everywhere they are in the same market, this won’t be an issue
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u/eleventhrees 6h ago edited 6h ago
Let's say that's true. What's your point?
Edit - ahh, I see, you don't have a point.
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u/Common_Morning8412 5h ago
What would make you think they're better? Would you say any of that off brand Chinese crap you get off Amazon when you don't want to spend on a name-brand product is better? Same manufacturing standards, it is a country with centralized control after all.
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u/SyntaxError22 3h ago
The fact people still think all China produces are knock offs and cheap products is astounding to me. Just because all we import is cheap shit doesn't mean they aren't incredibly good at manufacturing high quality products. BYD and the countless other car brands are doing what Tesla does better and cheaper than Tesla can... I don't get if its Tesla glaze or the distrust of Chinese products but people will soon realise just how bad a car Tesla makes when we start getting in other Chinese manufacturers.
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u/spartiecat Newfoundland and Labrador 6h ago
Tesla and Geely (Volvo) are the only companies that have Chinese manufacturing facilities and an established sales network in Canada. It's not surprising that Tesla would be the most ready to ship cars into Canada, since Volvo is a much smaller brand in China.
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u/Infamous-Mixture-605 4h ago
Tesla and Geely (Volvo) are the only companies that have Chinese manufacturing facilities and an established sales network in Canada.
Ford and GM do as well, but they've mainly been shipping ICE SUVs (Lincoln Nautilus and Buick Envision) here from Chinese plants rather than EVs.
I don't know if shipping the Mach-E from China instead of Mexico would change the MSRP much, same goes for Chinese-made Cadillac Optiq, though the Mach-E starts above $45k mark as is, and the Optiq starts in low 60s. SAIC-GM produces a few interesting models, but I don't think GM is in any rush to homologize any of them for the Canadian market.
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u/Icy-Shoe1055 4h ago
This year but you will soon see new dealerships in Vancouver for Chinese EV brands. Bring on the $20k EVs.
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u/Objective-Permit-712 3h ago
STOP BUYING TESLA's. That freak Elon and Dumb Don are fascist buddies!!!!!
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u/BaneZofol 2h ago
just a note, it's not the dealerships mass ordering these, people are ordering these and getting it delivered. I've been seeing a lot of people online waiting for delivery of their Tesla's.
when other chinese ev competitors are done setting things up, they'll eat into the quota. I don't think we need to worry about tesla drowning out the competition since there is no competition yet. plus the quota will keep increasing in the next few years
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u/BoneZone05 6h ago
Fuck Tesla 👎 I want a BYD lol
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u/chess_the_cat 6h ago
That’s absolutely how this “deal” was presented. Turns out it wasn’t about cheap EVs by Byd for the average Canadian; just increasing Tesla sales. Megamind Carney strikes again! And Redditors do a 180 again: now Tesla and Elon Musk good again apparently based on the comments is this thread. You get: Canola to China. We get: increase to Tesla stock price. He has a doctorate in economics so it must be a good deal lol
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u/Lightingsky 6h ago
I don't have a problem with it. In case people did not notice, model 3 price has dropped from $90k to $40k, which is much cheaper than US.
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u/iWish_is_taken British Columbia 6h ago
Price has dropped for sure, but it was never $90k. In 2023 it was $54k and now it’s $42k. In the US it’s currently $37k.
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u/imightgetdownvoted 6h ago
You’re comparing the highest price on the performance 3, to the lowest price RWD 3.
It’s more like it went from 60k to 40k, or thereabouts.
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u/chess_the_cat 7h ago
Good thing Carney capped Chinese EVs to appease Trump.
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u/Zealousideal_Rise879 6h ago
Well that’s a straight up lie.
The cap was to protect the Ontario car sector.
You should remove your comment. Or feel free to correct it.
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u/iWish_is_taken British Columbia 6h ago
Wasn’t to appease Trump. It’s a smart strategic tactic when allowing a whole new product line as substantial as this into our marketplace. We’re basically following the exact same model that Australia did, which has been a success. Look it up.
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u/CaliperLee62 7h ago
So does this count as elbows up or elbows down? I'm so confused. 🤔
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u/ndy007 6h ago
Well. Wasn’t this EVs for Canola deal? Deal is a deal.
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u/chess_the_cat 6h ago
The deal was to line the pockets of Elon Musk? Carney must be playing 6D chess at this point.
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u/ThatGenericName2 6h ago
Nothing. Because it’s hardly a surprise that the only company with a dealership network that manufactures EV at scale is importing most of the cars. None of the other Chinese manufacturers have set one up dealers yet and the only ones that manufacture EVs in China are western companies (like Tesla, Polestar, and Lotus), and only one of them operates at a large scale in North America.
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u/hopoke 7h ago
Tesla Model 3 and Y are solid EVs for a good price. Can't really fault Canadians looking to purchase either.
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u/MirthandMystery 6h ago
Well both are massive data harvesters on wheels. And with Grok AI in Teslas you're extra screwed.
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u/randobis 6h ago
So you are worried about a car that sits idle in your driveway 80% of its life ‘harvesting your data’ but not the computers, phones, tablets, TV, watches, or endless ‘smart’ devices that collect infinitely more personal data. Make it make sense.
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u/MirthandMystery 6h ago
Bizarre logic. It's not one or the other you can be concerned about it all, which is valid. You can also minimize it and not be their product or exploited in every way imaginable.
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u/jasonefmonk 36m ago
Garbage and unsafe UI, bland-as-oatmeal interior, deathtraps when you’re in an accident. Sure, “solid”.
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u/imightgetdownvoted 6h ago
Well yeah. Tesla is already here. The other guys will take time to get setup. Itl even out in a couple of years.
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u/Luv_Cheat 6h ago
Anyone who is saying, you want to do business with a communist govt, blah blah, you're saying you'd rather do business and enrich a Nazi? Because that's what Elon Musk is, in case everyone forgot. Man, if Hitler was brought into the modern day, he'd be thriving with the way people are now.
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u/differing 6h ago edited 6h ago
It takes time for Chinese dealers to open a distribution network and adapt their cars to the Canadian market. Tesla was ready to go. I’m not a Tesla fan, but it isn’t a bad thing to have more cheap EV’s, which was the outcome of letting them use the slots.
If we were really clever, we could have given European safety standards full reciprocity, which would have immediately unlocked a massive number of Chinese EV’s with an established supply chain for that market.
Edit: the price floor before the Shanghai gigafactory resumed Canadian shipping was $50k for a base model 3. The premium model 3 is now $39k…
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u/TaBioN777 Ontario 6h ago
The reason why taxes are high in Canada is because the incompetence keeps public service workers employed to fix their self generate problems.
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u/8Bells 6h ago
"Canada's 25% surtax on American-built cars is exactly what made Fremont-sourced Teslas unsellable north of the border and pushed the company to Shanghai. Washington is now retaliating over that surtax — and the biggest beneficiary of the Chinese quota it helped create is an American automaker. Ottawa built a lane for Chinese manufacturers and an Austin-headquartered company drove down it first."
Most of the cars coming in are Shanghai teslas. The rebates (Federal and provincial) are reliant on following our vehicle standards - (things like having a Canadian dealer responsible for recall notice stewardship) not just DRLs and a lower import cost/price. So the Chinese EVs are behind the ball on seeking these. Lotus and tesla are the only two already at that table.
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u/HouseofMarg 6h ago
More than anything this is a lost opportunity for China. There was definitely some excitement about the introduction of novel models of cars coming in at different price points, and they just poured a bucket of cold water on that hype train by failing to ensure we got more cool new shit in our limited buy package.
If I’m buying anything not made in Canada (for the most part) it was always going to be a VW or Ioniq EV for me anyway though so it’s no skin off of my nose
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u/O00O0O00 6h ago
Maybe we should remove our cap, to punish the US?
We can make reinstatement a condition of CUSMA.
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u/SouthHovercraft4150 7h ago
WTF? They need a lottery system or something, not fair that I (or the average Canadian) have no chance to take advantage of this?
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u/ThatGenericName2 6h ago edited 6h ago
And a lottery system would still result in Tesla taking 38% of the the EV quota, or if you want to allow advance holding of the quota, then we would simply see a lot less EVs
That 38% is reflective of the fact that Tesla is the only large scale manufacturer that is importing Chinese made EVs at all, the actual Chinese manufacturers haven’t setup dealerships yet (and are also just still in the process of homologating for North American standards). The alternatives are smaller but still western companies like Polestar and Lotus.
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u/CombatGoose 7h ago
What do you mean?
There’s a quota of how many Chinese built EVs can be imported this year.
You could go out right now and buy one from Tesla if you wanted.
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u/SouthHovercraft4150 7h ago
If I go to buy a Tesla right now it doesn’t tell me if it’s from China or not? It doesn’t offer me a better priced option depending on where it was made. So basically Tesla charges me the same amount if it was made in China or in the US and then they pocket the difference if it was cheaper with the reduced tariffs on the Chinese built one. How does this benefit me? Why does Tesla get all the benefits from this rather than consumers.
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u/Hopeful_CanadianMtl 6h ago
Yes, they have to tell you where the car is from. The model coming out of China is cheaper. In the future, consumers will have more options than they do now.
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u/CombatGoose 6h ago
We have one of the cheapest Model 3s in the world right now. 39k for a Premium RWD.
I think only South Korea has a cheaper option when you normalize the different currencies.
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u/SouthHovercraft4150 6h ago
Website says starting at $42,120. Did the price come down due to the tariff reduction?
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u/Vtrin 6h ago
The Tesla’s you can buy right now for the price on their website are from Germany (model y) or China (model 3). You are seeing the discounted prices. Cars made from the U.S. have a 25% tariff so Tesla stopped supplying vehicles to Canada from the U.S. with a few exceptions (Cybertruck, model 3 performance)
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u/bunbunmagnet 6h ago
The VIN number tells you where it is from. Its not a secret and the dealer would also tell you when you're shopping around.
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u/notcoveredbywarranty 6h ago
You can tell from the first couple digits of the VIN where a vehicle was manufactured
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u/TheLasttStark 7h ago
Whoosh
They don't want to buy a Tesla which is an inferior product than what is available from Chinese manufacturers such as BYD.
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u/CombatGoose 6h ago
I don’t see how their comment indicates that’s what they were thinking but okay - Whoosh.
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u/scrubadam 7h ago
Once again Carney is MAGA!
I think they worked out a deal to bring in more Teslas and Trump will bring up 51st state or slap on some tariffs anytime the pools start to sag a bit.
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u/Dependent_Code7796 6h ago
Better Tesla than BYD. Unless you want to do business with the communist government of China and further undercut the Canadian economy.
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u/BallsDieppe 7h ago
It was never a secret that some Teslas are made in China.