CanadaTesla has put the rear-drive Model 3 Premium back on sale in Canada at C$39,490 ($29,000) before delivery, the lowest price the model has carried anywhere in North America. The car comes from Gigafactory Shanghai rather than from Tesla’s California plant, and it is on the price list because Canada cut the duty that used to keep Chinese-built cars off it.
Until this spring the cheapest Model 3 a Canadian could order was the Long Range AWD at C$79,990. That is not a halving, and Tesla did not reprice anything: the Long Range AWD was a more powerful and better-equipped car, and it was removed from the lineup rather than discounted.
How the tariff quota works
Canada put a 100% surtax on Chinese electric vehicles in October 2024. Under a trade agreement reached with Beijing this year, up to 49,000 Chinese electric cars a year can now enter at 6.1% instead, with the quota running to 2030. Nothing about the car changed to make it cheap. The duty on it did.
The rebate it does not qualify for
The federal Electric Vehicle Affordability Program pays up to C$5,000 on a battery-electric car, but only when the car is built in Canada or imported from a country that has a free-trade agreement with Canada. China is not on that list, so this Model 3 collects none of it, and a buyer who saves on the tariff gives back part of it in lost subsidy. The programme and its payment backlog are worth reading alongside the price.
Acceleration, charging and warranty
The listed specifications moved twice in three weeks. At launch on 1 May the configurator showed 0 to 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds, 250 kW peak DC charging and a 192,000 km battery warranty. Two days later those became 5.2 seconds, 175 kW and 160,000 km, with Tesla describing the original figures as a website error. Around 19 May the acceleration figure moved again, to 6.2 seconds, where it stands now. Range has been 463 km throughout.
The hardware explains the gap between the two cars. The Shanghai Model 3 uses Tesla’s 3D7 rear motor, rated at 194 kW (260 hp) and 340 Nm, on a lithium iron phosphate pack of roughly 64 kWh. The Fremont-built car ran the 3D6 unit at 220 kW (295 hp) and 440 Nm on nickel-based cells, which hold more energy per kilogram and deliver higher peak current.
Tesla has since added a second Shanghai car to the Canadian lineup, the Model 3 Premium AWD at C$49,990 ($36,700), rated at 572 km with 250 kW charging, with first deliveries expected through late summer.
The Tesla Model 3 is a battery-electric sedan, updated in 2024 with the "Highland" refresh. The China lineup runs from a rear-drive version to an 830 km Long Range RWD and a Performance model, from ¥235,500. Canada is supplied from the same Shanghai plant, where the Premium RWD starts at C$39,490.
