Article content
According to Autoblog, today on Tesla’s Canadian website, rear-wheel drive Model Y vehicles and the long-range, all-wheel drive Model 3 models are showing that they are available for immediate delivery in British Columbia, with codes showing they were manufactured at Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai.
Up until now, that factory, which last year produced more than half of Tesla’s global production, has delivered vehicles domestically to China and for import to Europe. But with the automaker’s German production facility increasing Model Y output, Tesla is evidently looking to allocate those Chinese-built vehicles to new markets.
Another factor in the company’s decision to ship EVs across the Pacific Ocean to Canada could be the desire to keep their made-in-California vehicles in the United States as the new US$7,500 rebate kicks in for domestically produced EVs. The two models listed on the Canadian website each qualify for the federal rebate of $5,000. The website discovered that the cars qualifying for that subsidy on Tesla’s Canadian website have a VIN code starting with ‘LRW’ which indicates they were produced by the company’s Shanghai factory.
Article content
Recommended from Editorial
-
7 Things we learned at Tesla Cyber Roundup, plus Twitter reactions
-
Tesla readies revamp of Model Y codenamed ‘Juniper’: sources
Autoblog also reported the China-made version of the Model Y available in Canada was listed for $61,990, or about 22 per cent more than the equivalent vehicle costs in China before incentives. This follows Tesla’s announcement a few weeks ago that it would be bringing to the Canadian market a less expensive, rear-wheel drive Model Y that would be priced to qualify for the federal incentive. A recent Reuters story revealed that Tesla had designed and tested Model Y vehicles for sale in North America, with a three-month export plan of nearly 9,000 vehicles, with the expectation that the vast majority will be bound for Canadian ports.
What remains to be seen is if Canadian consumers will avoid the made-in-China Teslas in favour of those produced in the United States. There is precedent for Chinese-built EVs being sold in Canada, as all Polestar vehicles are built in China.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Automobiles News Click Here