Per public documents filled in Ottawa, Canada late July 2024, Chinese-based automaker BYD appears to be preparing to enter the Canadian market.
According to a report from Automotive News, these documents show that lobbyists have been acting on behalf of BYD in order to register the Chinese company with the federal and Ontario governments to “advise on matters related to the expected market entry of BYD into Canada for the sale of passenger electric vehicles, and the establishment of a new business, and the application of tariffs on EVs.”
It’s worth noting that the Canadian government has been considering hiking tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports.
Interestingly, the timing of this potential Canadian launch is not clear as of the time of this writing, but BYD has reportedly met with Canadian dealers about establishing local dealerships. If the Chinese automaker were to push forward with this plan, the move would likely drastically shake up the North American electric vehicle market. Notably, BYD has not made any recent comments regarding these developments.
Of course, BYD recently overtook Tesla as the world’s top-selling EV manufacturer.
“The next strategic step is to introduce passenger cars,” AutoForecast Solutions CEO Joe McCabe remarked. “The goal of any Chinese-branded vehicle manufacturer entering a new market is to develop market share, which is more important in the short-term than profitability.”
For reference, BYD has already created a presence for itself in Mexico, as it delivered the first of its 100 Yuan Plus compact crossovers earlier this year. Beyond that, it also selected Mexico City as the location for the official reveal of the BYD Shark plug-in hybrid (PHEV) midsize pickup truck, and has plans to establish a factory in Mexico as means of circumventing high U.S. tariffs.
Outside of that, the Chinese-based automaker has operations throughout the globe in regions including Asia, Europe, and South America.
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Comments
Creeping ever closer. The Fat Lady is beginning to practice. And it’s everyone else’s funerals.
And the funeral of our personal rights, freedoms, and democratic values. This is the beginning of their growing power. Hollow out manufacturing in democracies and then when their influences grows so does the decline of the forces of liberty. Remember. This is a country known for violently supressing dissedents (Tianamen Square massacre), organ harvesting of political prisoners, and heavy surveillance over their people through facial recognition and a social credit system. Get ready. We are looking at a dystopian nightmare of a future for our children. And we have only ourselves to thank for allowing this and buying into the propaganda.
I could see a lot of kids buying the cheap cars because it is clear none of the existing manufacturers in Canada want to make anything cheap. This will take off like the hyundai Pony did even though it was a lousy car.
Every car company has had a scandal ranging from major safety issues to minor (but significant) technical issues: Toyota (unintended acceleration), Ford (Pinto fire deathtrap and Explorer rollover incidents), VW (diesel emissions cheating), GM (ignition key issue with the Cobalt), Honda (J35 engine mounts failure), Chrysler (ZF 8-speed issues, 1st and 2nd gen minivan rear liftgate opening during crash issue, and dreaded 2.9L V6 engine failure due to water pump internally mounted), Hyundai & Kia (recent fire issue and hackability issues), and even Tesla (autopilot issues).
In all cases, the justice system prevailed and the companies were forced to address these issues free of charge, compensate victims, or compensate them with free repairs through recalls.
I am really curious, when the time comes and its their turn to be the subject of a scandal, how BYD, a state-party member run car manufacturer, would handle it. And I think I know the answer. Let’s just say, accountability will be treated like a hot potato, the local currency (which starts with a Y) will start flying, and the accusations of Americans being at fault will too. And it will be fought hard to the bitter end like an accusation about a spy balloon. This alone would be reason to not want to buy their cars.
I am waiting for Chevy bolt EUV with LFP batteries. I hope bolt comes before BYD in North America.