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Tesla readies export of bestselling Model Y SUV to Canada from China, source says

  • A new cheaper, version of the Model Y, Tesla’s bestselling model globally, will be exported from the carmaker’s Shanghai factory
  • Customers in Canada will be able to take delivery of the new version of the Model Y between May and July, according to Tesla’s website

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Customers look at the first Model Y electric cars arriving at a Tesla showroom in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province, on January 4, 2021. Photo: Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Reuters
Tesla has begun producing in Shanghai a version of the Model Y to be sold in Canada this year, the first time it will ship cars to North America from China, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plan and a production memo seen by Reuters.

The move would connect Tesla’s biggest and most cost-efficient factory in the world to North America, its largest market. The Model Y is the electric vehicle (EV) maker’s bestselling model globally.

Over the weekend, Tesla posted on its website that it would offer a new, cheaper version of its Model Y in Canada, a rear-wheel drive variant of the SUV-styled crossover priced C$10,000 ($7,377.90) lower than the long-range version of the vehicle available in that market.

Tesla’s website showed that customers in Canada could take delivery of the new version of the Model Y between May and July.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told analysts last week that Tesla’s Shanghai plant had the ‘lowest cost structure’ of any of its factories. Photo: AFP
Tesla CEO Elon Musk told analysts last week that Tesla’s Shanghai plant had the ‘lowest cost structure’ of any of its factories. Photo: AFP

The Canadian government’s website was updated on Friday to show that the new version of the Model Y and the more expensive long-range variant both qualify for incentives of C$5,000 on purchase or a four-year lease.

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