Chinese auto giant BYD – which stands for “Build Your Dreams” – is shelving its plans to sell EVs in Canada. It’s been eyeing the Canadian market since July 2024, before Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed a 100-percent tariff on Chinese-made EVs effective October 1st, 2024.
BYD met with dealers across Canada to consider the potential for a distribution network. Company representatives also met with lobbyists to advise the federal and Ontario governments on what the Chinese firm’s entry into the Canadian market might look like.
The company’s plans for Canada had been in limbo after Ottawa made its tariff decision in August. Now, according to Automotive News, Toronto-based lobbying firm Crestview Strategy has cut off outreach efforts to BYD, effectively killing the possibility of a BYD dealer network in Canada.
Neither BYD nor Crestview Strategy responded to requests for comments from Automotive News.
China auto industry analyst Lei Xing told Automotive News that “there is the possibility that even with the 100-percent tariff, that they could still launch a model that could compete, but it’s a matter of which one, if it’s the right model for the market.” In other words, the cheapest BYD models could still be competitively priced in North America, even accounting for tariffs inflating the MSRP. However, Xing said the Canadian and U.S. markets are “on the back burner” for the time being for Chinese automakers.
It’s unclear whether President Donald Trump’s election victory had any relation to the timing of this decision. It’s possible that Trump’s enthusiasm for tariffs protecting the U.S. auto industry had some bearing on BYD’s plans for the North American market, in general.
BYD currently operates in about 90 markets globally, with the bulk of its manufacturing concentrated in China. New tariffs from both the U.S. and Canada within the last year have made it challenging for the Chinese car industry to compete in North America. However, it does sell EVs and hybrids in Mexico, including a handful of crossovers, the Han and Seal sedans, the Shark pickup truck, and the Dolphin Mini hatchback, also known as the Seagull internationally.
Comments
Too bad. BYD’s EV, PHEV, and HEV technology is light years ahead of current North American offerings.
I’m sure Canadians would rather have the tens of thousands of auto jobs. Nobody can compete with slave labor wages.
These companies don’t have to spend massive amounts of money on R&D. They steal the technology from U.S. companies. International patents are almost impossible to enforce, especially with countries like communist China.
I agree with you. I’ve worked on the K9 prototype electric bus. The body was trash but the electrics, the layout, and the operational theory was ahead even in 2014. They were using iron phosphate batteries which performed pretty well. They also don’t burst into flames nearly as easily when they charge. Also easier to recycle and iron and phosphate is literally laying around waiting to be turned into something useful. To charge, the bus would energise to a semi-active state and then enter maximum regen brake including circulating coolant and fans. It avoided the need for an onboard charger because the regen brake accomplished the same function and eliminated extra devices. I think at maximum charge the rate was something like 100kW. In 2014. It would also have been possible to use as a portable energy source as it could supply 324kWh of energy from a full charge. You could drive it to the police station, hospital, etc… and power it during an emergency. I found that interesting and impressive.
Good.
I saw Chinese cars in Mexico. They could be a real threat without tariffs.
Just the fact that the company is run by a member of the gov party (Wang Chuanfu), a party well known for saving face from the rest of the globe by any means in any event that may bring embarrassment to them should be more than enough reason to not buy their cars.
Imagine if one of their cars have a major safety issue (like Ford Pintos fire issue, Toyotas unintended acceleration issue, VWs diesel emissions cheating, or GMs ignition key issue), which as you see here can happen to any major manufacturer, and the NHTSA, or European or Canadian equivalent decides to investigate or press charges for affected families of customers, I can see these companies rather than apologizing and agreeing to pay for damages, instead going all out on lobbying and putting the blame wherever they can other than themselves. They do it in politics, no reason to believe they wouldn’t do it with their state-owned or run businesses.
Of course, I am not saying all their businesses are like that. NIO is a privately owned company by a motivated entrepreneur just looking to sell cool electric cars and has no affiliation with the party. But a car from one of their state-owned companies or in the case of BYD, a publicly traded company run by a party member? No thank you. I love my family to trust their safety with a product made by an entity that will put saving face above all else.
It’s just a matter of time. Does the invasion continue on the Southern border or does it shift North. I could see the next President in 2029 offer factory space to China in the US.
If that president was Gavin Newsom he’d not only offer the factory space to them. He would offer them our nuclear silos for their ICBMs.
Good . Keep them out of Canada and the US.
Mao must be gnashing his teeth in you know where.
Electro 24,
The khmer Rouge, Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, and last but not least Vladimir Putin. These are the people that Trump wishes he could be like. Someday he will join them.
You’re so full of Male Bovine Excrement your eyeballs are BROWN !
Good !!!! Tariffs work to keep the Chinese unfair competition out.