Deliveries of the new Model 3 in Canada are set to begin in the next few weeks after the first batch of cars from China arrived in Vancouver on the weekend. However, despite the cars arriving in British Columbia, it looks like none of them will be delivered to customers there.
We first learned Tesla was going to export the new Model 3 built at Giga Shanghai to Canada last month. This was surprising for a number of reasons, one of which was that Tesla had switched back to sending cars built at the Fremont factory to Canada last year, after exporting them from China for most of the year.
Then Tesla unveiled the new Model 3 for North America last month, and before deliveries even began, the company was sending cars to Service Centers across Canada and the US for customers to drive. However, these demo drive cars were built in Fremont, leading us to believe they were going to supply Canada with US-made cars. As it turned out, that was an incorrect assumption, and earlier this month a ship carrying the new Model 3 left Shanghai destined for Vancouver.
That ship, the Morning Concert, arrived at the Port of New Westminster on Sunday, unloading hundreds of new Model 3s, but it looks like none of them will be delivered to customers in BC.
After the ship arrived on Sunday we asked our followers on X who had been assigned a VIN, and who had a delivery date scheduled, and none of those who had one or the other, or both, were in BC. Instead customers residing in Alberta, Ontario, or Quebec seemingly being the first to take delivery.
This lines up with we have seen on TMC, as none of the forum members from BC has been assigned a VIN.
This leaves two possibilities for customers in BC. One if that they will receive Fremont-made Model 3s that have yet to leave California for Canada (Transport Canada has approved these), or that Tesla will send another ship from Shanghai to Vancouver.
Under either scenario, it looks like deliveries of the new Model 3 in BC won’t begin until the end of March.
If you have a reservation for a new Model 3 and live in BC, keep us posted on your delivery with either a comment below, or reach out to us at tips@driveteslacanada.ca.
UPDATE: They have been unloaded already! New Model 3 deliveries in Canada just around the corner!
— Drive Tesla 🇨🇦 (@DriveTeslaca) February 26, 2024
📸: Will B https://t.co/m6C8eBhbux pic.twitter.com/pxLMTBEagK
