Tesla dealers said they had sold 8,653 cars in 3 days in Canada. Did they do it?

As in many places around the world, Tesla sales in Canada fell for months, an apparent reaction to the out of measure of Elon Musk in the Trump administration and its repeated denigration of Canadian sovereignty.

However, in some way, four dealers owned by Tesla reported to the Canadian government that they had sold a surprising 8,653 cars during a single weekend in January- enough to qualify for 43 million Canadian dollars (about $ 30 million) of government subsidies as part of a just expired program.

Now the Canadian government wants to know exactly how the electric car manufacturer has managed to move two cars per minute discount, a rate that presupposes that those four traders have been opened 24 hours from January 10 to January 12.

These payments were frozen this month after Mark Carney became the Canadian Prime Minister and appointed a new transport minister who ordered officials “to fully examine each complaint individually and determine if everyone is suitable and valid”. The minister, Chrystia Freeland, said that “payments are not made until we are confident that the complaints are valid”.

The subsidy program has expired, but Mrs. Freeland, targeting the Trump administration, said that if there was a new one, Teslas would not be admissible “as long as the illegal and illegal US tariffs are imposed against Canada”.

Tesla’s gain was a loss for some of its competitors.

The breathtaking burst of the company’s requests for sale for some of its retailers in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec has emptied funds from the government discounts program, closing it before the end of March 31st. As a result, estimates the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, 225 retailers who sell other brands have not been able to claim about 10 million Canadian dollars, putting some of them in financial danger.

“When you look at a success of 43 million dollars during a weekend, an investigation is certainly justified,” said Huw Williams, spokesperson for the association of retailers. “The transactions level does not have a common sense.”

Tesla did not respond to a commentary request. For the first time, the Toronto Star of Toronto reported the requests for racing on sales, which were published on a government website that keeps trace of discounts payments.

Based on the government plan, which began in 2019, the retailers deduced discounts up to $ 5,000 Canadian dollars when they sold electric vehicles before reporting the purchase information – including the names of buyers and vehicles identification numbers – to the government for the refund.

The Tesla Claims stream began on January 10th after Transport Canada warned retailers throughout the country that the program would have exhausted the money by the end of March. On Monday morning, the account was empty and the program was closed.

About 1,000 retailers who sell other brands presented complaints during that weekend, but Tesla represented about 88 % of the questions.

“How did Tesla magically know that you hit that number?” Williams asked, referring to the drainage of the remaining funds of the discount program.

While some retailers have accumulated requests before submitting them to the government, said Williams, the Tesla surge “does not adapt to any model for Tesla that goes back”.

He also said he was physically impossible for the four Tesla dealers to keep thousands of cars at hand.

Williams said that Mrs. Freeland told her group that the traders who lost after Tesla emptied the bottom in the end would have been refunded, but how long it could take it was not clear.

Tesla has become a detail Source of anger between CanadiaNS since President Trump began to impose rates from Canada and asking Canada to become the 51st state. The annexation was also supported by Mr. Musk, who holds Canadian citizenship and lived in Canada before moving to the United States.

An online petition that asks the Canadian government to revoke the citizenship of Mr. Musk has attracted hundreds of thousands of signatures.

More than 80 Teslas have been vandalized, their tires perforated and their paint scratched each other against a retail dealer, in Ontario, this month. A Tesla outlet in Montreal was defaced with pink paint. And in Vancouver, the organizers of an automotive show have forbidden the company for concerns for possible protests and vandalism.

Four Canadian provinces have excluded Tesla from their discount programs on electric vehicles this year.

At least one competitor from Tesla tried to collect dislike. Polestar, the producer EV based on Swedish base, controlled by the Chinese, offers the Canadians a discount of 5,000 Canadian dollars if they can prove that they are tesla -recorded owners.