by - Abandoned car parks in Canada are filled with rows of new Tesla electric vehicles.
- The cars appeared after the registration of 8,600 units in four locations in one weekend.
- The unusual surge occurred before Canada suspended subsidies for electric vehicles and iZEV.
Earlier this month, Tesla was accused by the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) of misleading legitimate dealers and car buyers in Canada regarding iZEV subsidies. Critics became even more suspicious after a video emerged showing hundreds of new electric vehicles left on abandoned car parks.
Canadian journalists discovered huge fleets of brand new Model S and Model Y halting in intersections near Tesla’s dealership center at an old street mall in Toronto. Hundreds of miles away in Laval, Quebec, journalists came across several more dozen Teslas parked in parking spots at another parking lot.
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In just three days, 8,600 cars were registered at four Tesla retail outlets in Canada – this amounts to one car every minute, 24 hours a day for three days straight, even when the stores were closed. Such activity is very unusual, but what really piqued interest was the timing of the sales surge.
The sales occurred at a time when demand for Tesla in Canada had fallen, partially due to CEO Elon Musk’s collaboration with President Trump, who threatened substantial import tariffs and continuously hinted at Canada becoming the 51st US state. However, sales also took place directly before the suspension of the iZEV electric vehicle subsidy program in the country, leading some to think that Tesla played the system.
Tesla applied for 43.1 million Canadian dollars (30 million USD) in rebates, accounting for more than half of the remaining 71.8 million Canadian dollars (50 million USD) set aside for electric vehicle discounts, leaving many Canadian car dealers without profit. They advanced the rebate out of their own pockets for each sold car, anticipating they could reclaim the money from the Canadian government, but that might not happen now.
One dealer we spoke to said he lost 400,000 Canadian dollars (279,000 USD) as the rapid sales influx of Tesla meant he couldn’t apply for reimbursement before the program ended.
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Tesla better hopes the vandals behind recent vandalism acts at dealership centers don’t watch the news, as hundreds of Model 3 and Model Y standing together sound like a dream for protesters. We reached out to Tesla – known for having dissolved its PR department in the USA – about the car-packed parking lots, but haven’t yet received a response.
