It appears that Canada will be the first-ever North American market with a Giga Shanghai-built Tesla Model Y.
Per Reuters, Giga Shanghai began production of the Canadian-bound version of the Model Y earlier this month. Per a production memo, the vehicles are designed and tested for export to North America. The memo notes that the goal is to export nearly 9,000 cars to Canada this quarter.
This news comes days after Tesla updated its Canadian website with a cheaper version of the Model Y in Canada. The rear-wheel drive variant of the Model Y is $10,000 cheaper than the long-range version. Per the site, deliveries will be happening between May and July.
The Canadian government site updated on Friday with the new Model Y rear-wheel variant, which qualifies for the federal EV incentive.
Interestingly, Reuters reported that Tesla planned to export made-in-China vehicles to North America in November. However, at the time, Elon Musk took to Twitter to say those rumours were false.
Tesla has yet to confirm the news. Nor have they updated the Tesla Canada website to indicate where the new rear-wheel variant is coming from.
