Canada won’t require sub-$35,000 China EVs in first year of quota

>Ottawa’s provision for “affordable” models from China, designed to lower the entry point for EVs, kicks in for the 2027 quota year. Vehicles with import — not retail — prices below $35,001 will need to account for 10 per cent of the China EV quota in 2027, according to a notice published in the Canada Gazette March 11. >The portion of the quota reserved for the lower-priced EVs will step up to 20 per cent in quota year 2028, 35 per cent in 2029 and 50 per cent in 2030, Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Alexandre Fournier told Automotive News Canada in an email.

This is almost certainly lobbied by Tesla. Real Chinese brands such as BYD were not planning on entering the market until next year anyways, because it takes a year just to set up operations and dealerships. So scraping the sub-$35,000 requirement for 2026 mostly just benefits Tesla, allowing them to import more Chinese made Teslas to the Canadian market

Watching this mess in real time. Again. We're not getting what we were sold.

I thought the whole purpose of getting close and cozy with China was gor their cheap EVs? So now we're going to hold our noses about all the worrying things the CCP does and also NOT get cheap EVs grom China, but make it easier for Tesla. Sure showed them!

Well that's too bad. I for one am ready to line up and buy some cheap personal transport. 8 liters of fuel for $16 bucks means it's time to capitulate and just park it.

What’s the point then. Huh. We want affordable EV’s.

so really 2030s is when we can the market for cheaper EVs picking up

Which is weird to me considering Elon is openly hostile to Canada, he has declared “not a real country”. Tesla should be run out of Canada.

Too little, too late.   Should be 50% starting now. If that results in unused quota, so be it.

The whole purpose was to sell them canola.

It doesn't really affect them at all if others aren't ready until Q4 at the earliest. Their sales will be lower than what the quota would have allowed. If the rule actually even changed, it was probably removed because it's just excess administration and friction for this year. My understanding was the $35k requirement was a 2030 requirement.

I hope in this time it takes to ramp up we build up charging stations, so that making the switch is a bit of an easier choice.

Spoiler alert there never was a plan for a quota for sub 35k > With this agreement, **it is also anticipated that,** in five years, more than 50% of these vehicles will be affordable EVs with an import price of less than $35,000, creating new lower-cost options for Canadian consumers. [https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2026/01/16/prime-minister-carney-forges-new-strategic-partnership-peoples](https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2026/01/16/prime-minister-carney-forges-new-strategic-partnership-peoples)

It's always snake oil. The things they say during the announcements always come with a \* We just have to wait to read the fine print later.

BYD, Chery and Geely said yesterday that they would have vehicles available in Canada before the year end.

Sure, what we need is expensive Teslas, Lotus and Polestars. Yay! Smh.

They have stronger wording in other places. It is still the import price though, so doesn't mean what we'll pay will be $35,000. >The proportion of the country-specific quota reserved for affordable EVs with an import price of $35,000 CAD or less will reach 50% by 2030, kickstarting the availability of more affordable electric vehicles in Canada. https://www.international.gc.ca/news-nouvelles/2026/2026-01-16-china-chine.aspx?lang=eng

“Won’t require”, yeah, aha, BS. “Won’t be getting” is probably more accurate. We need more sub-40K and we actually need sub-30K vehicles to effin exist!

Too many Tesla owners out there, lots don't care.

People want to bitch that the cars aren't going to be available right away at a certain price, and then once the cars do arrive, the same will bitch that they are not what they expected.

The quota should be 80% minimum and should start immediately not "within 5 years". If quota is left unused, so be it.

It doesn't make sense for anyone to sell something for cheap and in limited quantities. If the profit margin is small, you'd want to make up for it in volume. Conversely, if you must sell in small quantities, you'd want to pick expensive high-prestige products. Hopefully this is all a transitional strategy.

Takes longer than 1yr to set up all the operations & supply chain network to ensure a seamless customer service experience. I'd be very skeptical of any new-to-Canada brand who claims they can do it faster. Our bureaucracies moves slow, at all levels of Government.

Not fond of the idea of the government deciding which companies people are allowed to buy from. If someone doesn’t want to support Tesla because of Elon, fair — people can vote with their wallets. But that should be a consumer’s choice, not something the government mandates.

There's already tons of products and companies that you can't buy from, because the government says so. It's called regulation. Voting with your wallet doesn't work, because voting only works when everyone has the same number of votes, but everyone's wallet is a different size. If a company is being actively hostile to the country, the best course of action is to simply shut them out.

I’m a Tesla owner from long before Elon went nuts and I think scalping this is nuts. Canada should specify the tariff reduction is for Chinese owned companies and exclude Tesla’s made in China. So I guess we now know the company with the best lobbyist wins🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

we'll see, personally I don't think that's a realistic timeline Best case scenario I could see vehicles being available for order by the end of the year, with delivery sometime early 2027

But the people actually running Tesla are doing it *despite* their blobLord.

While I agree, Tesla should be run out of here by Canadians not buying their product, it's not the job of our government to be our moral police and I wouldn't want it to be either

It really depends on the strategy. To me this is the perfect time to do a hunger marketing, low price plus limited quantity, people will line up for a long time to get one. This will be good for BYD to really grab people's attention and has a real push for people to ask for more quota from our government.

That's what they said yesterday. I am looking forward to see which ones will be available. I would love to drive an EV to and from work and save that portion.

How do you regulate hurt feelings and ignorant memes from a drugged out CEO?

Tell him to fuck off.

Even though I'll never buy a car from China, the cheap competition should drive the cost of other vehicles, Fingers crossed at least.

This is discouraging. I thought the whole point was to sidestep tariff nation and try to get more affordable alternatives in the marketplace.

Bringing the rebate back has already started driving down the cost of EVs. I’ve been looking for an EV after selling my car and prices have dropped on average $3k-$5k just in the past 3 weeks alone. They’re expected to drop even more by April because they’re are so many sitting unsold for 2 months. I have regularly seen older EVs with 300-350KM range listed at around $11k-$15k. I’m considering selling my parents vehicle to get them an EV as well since they rarely drive more than 300KM weekly.

I wouldn’t say never, but they do have to build dealerships. The first cars coming over are expensive Lotus’ because they already have dealers here

If these EVS under $35,000 coming to the market shouldn't the government get rid of the subsidies

True, but their factories can only manufacture a limited amount of cars per year. So it’s likely not worth it for them to make a bunch of cheap, low profit cars when they could instead make their more profitable mid range or high end cars.

This was in the original agreement, it was reported on when it was first signed. This isn’t new news.

The whole point was to get tarriffs off our canola and give China a negotiation win on EVs. 50k cars a year was never going to move the needle.

Typical government being a government. They don't work for you. Remember that.

What language is on the page, definitely not English, French and Chinese. XD

Just so everyone is aware. This is not new news, this wasn’t fine print or some sort of bait and switch, it was in there in the beginning and reported on. There were people that even commented on it in the original Reddit posts. This was never about EVs this was about canola. The canola market is much bigger than the 50k EVs. 50k EVs were never going to make a dent. Allowing China a win is just political theatre so everyone can walk away and say they got a win. There was a reasom why Brad Wall came to that meeting, the goal was to get canola back into China. Sorry to say but this government doesnt really care about cheap EVs, they are still beholden to the big 3 car companies. And ya many companies will try and use up the quota on expensive cars, but the cars will not be brought in to sit in a warehouse. If someone brings in the cars it means someone will buy it.

This is the result of Elon Musk lobbying Canada. Once again our politicians do not have the best interest of Canadians

Tesla has actually been selling cars in Canada for quite a long time, around the early 2010s I think, and they’ve been operating within Canadian regulations ever since. I’m not an EV owner and probably won’t be buying one anytime soon, but I respectfully disagree with the idea of banning a company that has been legally operating here for over a decade. If people don’t like a company, consumers usually show that through demand. Sales go up or down accordingly. If Canadians genuinely don’t want a product, sales will fall naturally. Shutting a company out entirely should probably be reserved for cases involving national security or illegal activity, not simply disagreement with a company or its leadership, or because someone has a big mouth. As Canadians, we should be better than that.

Since the Kia EV4 starts at 39k CAD I bet BYD will try to beat that price with a BYD Dolphin for $34,999++ CAD this year or next. The EV4 > BYD Dolphin so I still have hope for a 35k Dolphin EV most Canadians won't consider because it's quite small.

Yeah we may get a BYD Dolphin for <35k CAD next year but Canadians don't really like subcompact cars so the complaints will remain

Maybe, if Tesla starts selling their MIC Model 3 they won't be eligible for the 5k rebate. If they instead bring them in from the US they could get the rebate if it's under 50k but then the costs will be higher. For once I think a Canadian politician actually played this well with China and the US. Apparently the legacy automakers are already giving massive discounts to move EVs under 50k before the Chinese EVs arrive. Heard nearly top of the line 2025 Mach-Es going for almost 20k less than sticker between discount and rebate.

Used EV’s is the best way to go. Depreciation is insane on a lot of them. Less so with Tesla’s, but really good on others.

I just bought a used polestar with only 25,000KM on it for 26k. Long range dual motor version too. There’s deals to be had on the used market.

fuckin why tho? Why can't the average Canadian have something nice? Please, any level of government? SOMETHING THAT ACTUALLY HELPS FOR THE LOVE OF MAPLE SYRUP!

Oh definitely! But there was a steal a few weeks ago, the Fiat 500E was 125$ per month! They ran out last week.

If you limit the number allowed to be imported it will always start with the highest value/mark-up units. This is the plan. If they wanted cheap EVs in Canada there would be no cap.

yeah this would be like expecting the grocery store to lower the prices when they're doing well.

BYD is struggling internally… I hope they can stay afloat long enough for this to even happen

We aren’t talking about used cars in this case

Early on there is definitely a benefit to just getting as many cars on the road as possible. They will need brand recognition and people hyping up their value and quality. Lots of potential customer are not following this news and may have no idea Chinese car brands exist.

Do you have the massage seats? Polestars look wicked

The point was getting tariffs off canola…… not affordable evs

Why do we even need dealerships these days?

Even without dealers, the manufacturers would still need a sales and service system. Call it a showroom and service centre, but the end result is they are disadvantaged by not having existing infrastructure.

It is. But that was very unlikely for the first batches. I wouldn’t be shocked if one or two affordable “ish” models are put up for sale, but most of them are going to be luxury vehicles from established brands that can move allotment from one factory to another.

makes sense since there is a quota

They don't need to build dealerships.

EVs in our context are already easily deployed as extremely reliable best dailies you've ever had. I think the most realistic thing is for 2 car households to convert at least one car to a used EV "cheaply" that will save massive amounts of money The EVs that work in all cases have historically required *a lot* of batteries which are the fundamentally expensive component, though the BMW iX3 new one is cheaper while massively improving range, though I still wouldn't exactly call it cheap, I think the era of buying new cars for middle class people is essentially dead, but not necessarily for a "bad" reason - moreso because used higher end cars are just so much of a better deal.

You’re dealing with immature adults who can’t comprehend the implications of what they advocate for. Especially when it comes to banning anything that they perceive as upsetting.

It provides the bloblord with more resources to continue spreading his evil. Don't support the bloblord!

The Chinese EVs aren't eligible for the rebate

Lol they'll get whatever the market gives them. Considering they're a new market entrant competitive pricing might be a good idea considering the alternative is noone buys them.