Tesla is evidently starting Model 3 deliveries in Canada in a massive way with large shipments being spotted throughout the country including one with an estimated 1,000 Model 3 vehicles in Toronto.
The massive volume in Canada is coming as Tesla delayed some Model 3 deliveries in the US.
In March, Tesla sent a huge first batch of invites to Canadian reservation holders.
At the time, the automaker confirmed a starting price of $45,600 CAD for its latest electric vehicle, which is fairly close to the price in the U.S. after the exchange rate.
Of course, Canadian reservation holders, like American reservation holders, cannot currently buy the Model 3 for that price and probably won’t be able until the end of the year.
Tesla is still only producing the Model 3 with the Long Range battery pack, rear-wheel-drive, and the premium interior package.
But the more expensive version of the Model 3 has apparently managed to convince thousands of Canadian reservations holders to order their vehicles.
Tesla started deliveries earlier this month to the first few owners, but now the real volume is coming.
A massive shipment of Model 3 vehicles was spotted in a lot in Toronto yesterday (pictures via Evoto Rentals):
There are several hundred Model 3 vehicles in this lot alone and some are already at Tesla’s Toronto stores being prepped for delivery.
Other Tesla locations in Canada are also expected to get hundreds of Model 3 vehicles as soon as this week.
A few hundred vehicles are reportedly inbound for Tesla Montreal.
As we recently reported, the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have added the Model 3 to their lists of eligible electric vehicles for their incentive programs. They offer significant discounts of $14,000 and $8,000 respectively.
Electrek’s Take
It certainly looks like Tesla built a massive batch of Canadian Model 3 vehicles and now deliveries are about to start in masse.
Good luck to Tesla’s Canadian store employees on handling the volume in the next few days and weeks.
I expect that this is part of Tesla changing its delivery strategy to focus more on Canadian deliveries and push U.S. deliveries to the next quarter in order to deliver its 200,000th car in the US in Q3 and extend the phase-out of the $7,500 federal tax credit for its customers.
Once an automaker delivers its 200,000th electric car in the US, the $7,500 tax credit starts to phase by being cut in half after the end of the quarter following the quarter in which a manufacturer delivered the 200,000th electric car.
It means that by pushing that delivery to the very beginning of a quarter, the automaker can enable its buyers to access the tax credit for a full additional quarter.
As we’re seeing this kind of volume in Canada and Tesla announcing delays to some Model 3 reservation holders who already placed their orders in the US, I think it is likely that this is the result of Tesla trying to optimize the tax credit for US reservation holders.
Of course, Tesla will never admit that because all the headlines would be “Tesla squeezes more money from taxpayers” and other similar accusations even though it’s perfectly fair within the rules of the tax credit, and every other automaker will likely do the same once they get to their 200,000th US EV delivery.
In the meantime, Canadians will likely start seeing a ton of Model 3 vehicles on their roads. Enjoy.
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