Concerns Over Tesla’s Sales Claims in Canada
In recent months, Tesla’s sales figures in Canada have experienced a notable decline, a trend that many attribute to Elon Musk’s controversial role in the Trump administration and his ongoing criticisms of Canadian sovereignty. Despite this downturn, a surprising report emerged from four Tesla-owned dealerships that claimed to have sold an extraordinary 8,653 vehicles during a single weekend in January. This spike in sales was significant enough to qualify the company for approximately 43 million Canadian dollars (around $30 million) in government subsidies, just before a critical program was set to expire.
Now, the Canadian government is seeking to understand how Tesla managed to achieve such an astonishing sales rate—two cars every minute—over the course of the weekend from January 10 to January 12. This calculation presumes that the dealerships operated continuously for 72 hours, raising eyebrows among officials.
This month, the Canadian government froze the disbursement of these payments following the appointment of Mark Carney as Prime Minister. He has since designated a new Transport Minister, Chrystia Freeland, who has instructed officials to conduct a thorough review of each sales claim to verify their legitimacy. Freeland emphasized, “No payments will be made until we are confident that the claims are valid.”
Although the subsidy program has now lapsed, Freeland has made it clear that should a new program be introduced, Tesla would be excluded from eligibility due to the “illegitimate and illegal U.S. tariffs imposed against Canada.”
Tesla’s rapid sales growth has come at a cost to its competitors. The astonishing sales figures reported by Tesla dealers in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec have drained resources from the government’s rebate program, forcing its premature closure before the originally scheduled end date of March 31. According to estimates from the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, around 225 dealerships representing other automotive brands were left unable to claim approximately 10 million Canadian dollars in subsidies, putting some of them at serious financial risk.
