Earlier this week Tesla ended sales of its base model Standard Range (SR) Model 3 in the US after the new 2021 refresh models began hitting the streets.
Fortunately for owners in Canada, Drive Tesla was able to confirm the software locked SR Model 3 with just 150km of range is still available in Canada. The reason that is important is because of the $5,000 federal iZEV rebate.
When the Canadian government announced the incentive program early in 2019, the Standard Range Plus (SR+) Model 3 did not qualify. The terms of the program said zero emission vehicles must have a base price of $45,000 or less. If they did, higher trim levels of the same car up to $55,000 would also qualify.
Since the SR+ was the base model, and was priced at $54,990 at the time, Tesla appeared to be out of luck. But with a little creativity, the automaker software locked the SR+ from 386kms of range down to 150km, and officially added a Standard Range Model 3 to its lineup in Canada. The price? $44,999, $1 below the limit, meaning the SR+ now qualified for the incentive.
After Tesla ended sales in the US, we wondered how many of the SR Model 3’s have actually been sold in Canada since they were first introduced in May 2019.
The best data we could find is several months old only going up to March 2020, but it gives us an idea of its popularity.
From May 2019 to March 2020, just 126 SR Model 3’s were sold in Canada. That compares to the 12,098 SR+ Model 3’s sold during the same time period, according to data from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Related: Tesla Model 3 the most popular EV in British Columbia as numbers rise over 600% in one year
Breaking it down further, in the 11 months the data is available Tesla sold an average of 11 of the base Model 3’s, and 1,099 SR+ Model 3’s per month.
It is not surprising that so few have been sold as Tesla never really intended it to be a hot seller. The automaker almost made it unappealing with its low range and high price tag, and was clearly introduced to get the SR+ to qualify for the incentive.
Taking all that into consideration, that number is actually a lot higher than we were anticipating.
Was that in line with what you were expecting to hear? If any of our readers purchased the 150km SR Model 3 in Canada, let us know in the comments below.
