Tesla has launched the single-motor Model Y RWD model in Canada with a lower price that helps it qualify for up to $CA12,000 of incentives in certain parts of the country.
The newly introduced Model Y RWD starts at $CA59,990 which makes it eligible for a Canadian federal government rebate of $CA5,000.
Image: Tesla CanadaThe pricing equates to $A66,870 which is lower than the same variant’s $A68,900 price in Australia.
In a Canadian province like Quebec, there are state incentives of up to $CA7,000 on battery electric vehicles. This incentive topped with the federal government rebate brings the base Tesla Model Y RWD down to $CA47,990.
That price makes purchasing a battery electric SUV quite attractive. It translates to buying a Tesla Model Y at $A$53,500 which is cheaper than some ICE Toyota Rav4 variants in Australia.
The new RWD model comes with a 394 km of EPA range, meanwhile, the same variant in Australia has a 455 km WLTP range. That’s roughly a 10% reduction between the two standards and EPA is closer to actual real-world driving conditions than the WLTP cycle.
At this stage, it’s unclear where this variant will be made. It’s likely to arrive from Shanghai or could be manufactured at Tesla’s Fremont factory as the Model Y production ramps right up in the newer Texas factory.
This will become clearer once customers who place an order for it start to receive Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN). This is a 17-digit number that’s unique to the vehicle.
The VIN’s first few digits will clarify the manufacturing plant. For US-built cars, the VIN starts with a 5YJ or a 7SA. Tesla’s Shanghai-produced cars VIN starts with LRW.
Deliveries on the new variant in Canada are estimated between May – July which is a month longer than the existing Long-Range Models which can be delivered by June 2023.
Tesla seems to be launching new variants of various models in some of its global existing markets in recent weeks to potentially reach a larger customer group.
Earlier this month Tesla launched the Tesla Model Y Long-Range in the Australian market. Then Tesla launched a Model Y Standard Range AWD variant in the US with what’s believed to be Texas-built vehicles with the newer 4680 battery cells.
Last year, Tesla also introduced this Model Y RWD variant in the UK which launched there with an asking price of £51,990. Eight months later the same variant now is £7,000 cheaper starting at £44,990, highlighting the price cuts Tesla has introduced in many parts of the world in 2023.
The Canadian incentives seem to be quite a bit ahead of what’s on offer here in Australia by the Federal Government in the recently released National EV Strategy.
With brands like Tesla wanting to grow market share in markets with stronger incentives and introducing new variants to do that, it may put Australian uptake at a disadvantage.
They are likely to divert cars to markets like Canada and parts of Europe where more demand starts to emerge on the back of federal and combined state incentives instead of lagging markets like Australia.
Last week’s increase in Queensland government incentives is a positive step and provides certainty to more Australians to make the switch to EVs.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.