BYD Plans 20 Canada Dealerships Post-Tariff Drop
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- BYD has hired Markham-based Dealer Solutions Mergers & Acquisitions to scout roughly 20 Canadian dealership sites, with CEO Farid Ahmad confirming three Greater Toronto Area locations are already in discussion, followed by Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary
- Chery Automobile is also establishing an independent Canadian dealership network, according to Carscoops, meaning the 49,000-unit annual import cap must be split across multiple Chinese brands
- The Canada-China trade deal slashed EV tariffs from 100% to 6.1% in January, caps first-year Chinese EV imports at 49,000 units (rising to 70,000 by 2030), and requires Chinese automakers to form Canadian JVs for vehicles or batteries within three years
- Canada's EV market contracted roughly 25% in 2025 to about 85,000 units as federal incentives were suspended; Tesla's Canadian sales collapsed over 60% to roughly 18,000, allowing GM to claim the top-selling EV brand
- BYD's 2025 global BEV sales reached 2.26 million vehicles, surpassing Tesla's 1.64 million deliveries, with overseas sales alone jumping 150% year-over-year to surpass 1 million units
- The import quota represents less than 3% of Canada's annual new car market, and with Chery and Tesla also seeking Shanghai-built Model 3 allocations, Electrek estimates BYD's actual share could fall under 10,000 units in year one
- BYD Executive VP Stella Li told Bloomberg the company is open to acquiring a rival automaker and building cars in Canada, but would insist on owning and operating any Canadian factory outright
Why it matters: Canadian consumers gain a major new source of affordable EVs in a market that lost 25% of its volume in 2025, but the 49,000-unit cap split among BYD, Chery, and potentially Tesla means real supply will be thin — 20 stores chasing fewer than 10,000 BYD units could strain dealer economics while doing little to dent incumbent pricing.
