Tesla starts Model 3 deliveries in Canada

Tesla is starting international deliveries of the Model 3 with the first few deliveries in Canada this week.

The deliveries are just on time based on the timeline that Tesla released with the first invites to configure in the country.

In March, Tesla sent a first massive batch of invites to Canadian reservation holders.

At the time, the automaker confirmed a starting price of $45,600 CAD for its latest electric vehicle, which is fairly close to the price in the U.S. after the exchange rate.

Of course, Canadian reservation holders, like American reservation holders, cannot currently buy the Model 3 for that price and probably won’t be able until the end of the year.

Tesla is still only producing the Model 3 with the Long Range battery pack, rear-wheel-drive, and the premium interior package.

The Long Range pack adds $11,900 CAD ($9,212 USD) and the “premium package” adds $6,600 CAD ($5,100 USD) for a new base price of $64,100 CAD ($49,622 USD) – or about the same is it is in the US after the exchange rate.

The automaker is now delivering those first few vehicles in the country. The Toronto Electric Vehicle Association posted pictures of the first delivery at Tesla’s store in the city:

Other Model 3 vehicles have also been spotted at stores around the country – indicating that more deliveries are planned for the coming days.

The Model 3 is expected to be quite popular in Canada.

As we recently reported, the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have added the Model 3 to the lists of eligible electric vehicles for their incentive programs. They offer significant discounts of $14,000 and $8,000 respectively.

Electrek’s Take

That’s big for the Canadian EV community. I expect Model 3 to have a massive impact in the country.

Electric vehicle sales grew 68% in Canada last year, but the volume is still not that significant. We are talking about fewer than 10,000 all-electric vehicles.

Tesla could potentially double that number by the end of the year with the Model 3 alone.

The automaker could even change its delivery strategy over the coming months to focus more on Canadian deliveries and push U.S. deliveries to the next quarter in order to deliver its 200,000th car in the US in Q3 and extend the phase-out of the $7,500 federal tax credit for its customers.

It’s unlikely to happen in the next few weeks since Tesla just sent out another batch of invites in the U.S. last month.

Unfortunately, Tesla is not commenting on the situation. Electrek estimates that Tesla would hit the 200,000th U.S. delivery mark in Q2 if deliveries are not optimized for the federal tax credit extension.

We should have a better idea of the situation by the end of the month.