China's BYD Hits The Brakes On Canadian Expansion Plans

Canadian officials followed the U.S.' lead, imposing a 100% tariff on Chinese-built EVs. Now, BYD's plans are on pause.

Photo by: BYD

Mack Hogan

By: Mack Hogan

Nov 8, 2024 at 3:00pm ET

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BYD was planning to enter the Canadian market, bringing cheap Chinese EVs to the U.S.' Northern Neighbor.
But Canada followed the lead of President Joe Biden, imposing its own 100% tariff on Chinese EVs.
The result is unsurprising: According to new reporting from Automotive News, BYD has paused plans to enter Canada.

BYD won't be entering Canada anytime soon, according to a new report from Automotive News. The Chinese brand is pausing its quest to conquer the Great White North after the country imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, sources told the outlet.

BYD is the largest EV manufacturer in China and, on some quarters, has nearly dethroned Tesla as the biggest EV producer worldwide. The company has long eyed North American expansion. I remember going to the Detroit Auto Show during the recession, while I was in middle school, and seeing BYD's stand there. It was the first of many hints that Chinese automakers wanted a slice of the U.S. market. After the country's EV industry boomed, many feared that cheap Chinese EVs—which are largely high quality and offer great tech and specs—would flood the U.S. market. BYD entered Mexico and the European Union, and has already started expanding in both markets. U.S. automakers feared their country was next. President Joe Biden got ahead of any plans by announcing a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs imported to the U.S., but things were looking brighter up North.

BYD's Sealion 7 crossover.

Photo by: BYD

Back in July, we got near-official confirmation that BYD was coming to Canada. The company announced a partnership with Uber, and in the release I spotted an interesting line:

Beginning first in Europe and Latin America, the partnership is expected to offer drivers access to best-in-class pricing and financing for BYD vehicles on the Uber platform, and will expand to include markets across the Middle East, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. (Emphasis mine.)

Those other markets made sense. But Canada's inclusion was weird, given that the company didn't sell vehicles there. Now, in an official release, it was announcing plans to deliver EVs in Canada. That followed other rumors about BYD meeting with Canadian officials, and talking to potential dealer partners. All signs said it was happening.

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But then, in August, Canada announced its own 100% tariff on Chinese EVs. That immediately brought the expansion plan into question. Now, it appears we have our answer. As AN reports, BYD won't be entering Canada anytime soon. While that may be good for U.S., European, Japanese and South Korean automakers that are already established in Canada, it's unclear if it'll work out for consumers in the long haul. Chinese EVs are cheap and good. Competition from them could force existing automakers to get leaner, build more affordable options and accelerate their own product timelines, as the introduction of Japanese cars did half a century ago.

But the U.S., EU and Canada have made clear that they don't want that sort of competition, which they argue is the result of excessive subsidization. The U.S. is answering back with its own EV purchase and production subsidies, which will hopefully allow Western companies to compete with Chinese EVs on price. Someone has to sell cheap EVs in the U.S and Canada. And as this news shows, it won't be BYD.