IT Home, October 13: Tesla has announced that its import quota for electric vehicles manufactured in China has been exhausted, leading to a suspension of new orders for the Model 3 Premium in the Canadian market, with orders expected to resume no earlier than March 2027.
However, Drive Tesla Canada found that government data shows a significant amount of China-made electric vehicle import quotas remain unused across Canada, with no clear explanation yet provided regarding how many quotas Tesla received or why it stopped accepting orders ahead of schedule.
Tesla has removed the Model 3 Premium Rear-Wheel Drive and All-Wheel Drive variants from its Canadian website ordering page. Both models are produced at the Shanghai Gigafactory, with the Rear-Wheel Drive variant starting at CAD 39,490 (approximately RMB 186,000 at current exchange rates) and the All-Wheel Drive variant starting at CAD 49,990 (approximately RMB 235,000 at current exchange rates). Canadian customers can still order the Model 3 Performance All-Wheel Drive variant, priced at CAD 74,990 (approximately RMB 352,000 at current exchange rates).
In January 2026, the Canadian government announced adjustments to its import policy for Chinese-made electric vehicles, implementing an annual quota of 49,000 units effective March 1. Within the quota, eligible vehicles are subject to a most-favored-nation tariff rate of 6.1%, down from the previous additional tariff rate of 100%. The annual quota will be implemented in two phases, with unused allocations from the first phase carried over to the second phase.
According to data released by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, as of October 9, only 328 vehicles have been imported under the second-phase quota, which began on September 1, 2026, out of an original allocation of 33,397 slots—leaving 33,069 slots unused, or approximately 99% of this phase’s quota. Since the quota system was implemented on March 1, 2026, a total of 15,931 slots have been utilized out of the national annual allocation of 49,000.
Under Canada’s second-phase import notification, quotas are generally allocated to eligible importers on a first-come, first-served basis, and the documentation does not specify a maximum quota per automobile manufacturer. However, the Canadian government has indicated that, to ensure fair access to quotas for eligible applicants, it may reserve a portion of quotas for automobile manufacturers in the future, including for new entrants to the Canadian market. As of the publication of the relevant report, the government has not announced any separate quota arrangements for Tesla.
Thanks to reduced tariffs, Tesla switched production of the rear-wheel-drive Model 3 for the Canadian market from its Fremont, U.S. factory to its Shanghai, China factory in May this year, lowering the starting price to CAD 39,490, and added the all-wheel-drive variant in June. Following this order suspension, customers can no longer order these two Premium models through the official website.
Tesla has not yet publicly disclosed the exact number of its import quotas, nor has it explained why it has stopped accepting orders despite Canadian government data showing that many quotas remain unused.
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