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

Published: 2:11pm, 24 Apr 2023

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

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.

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

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