{"id":128638,"date":"2026-07-14T02:43:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/128638\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T02:43:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:43:25","slug":"the-first-chinese-evs-reaching-canada-arent-the-bargains-buyers-were-promised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/128638\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Chinese EVs Reaching Canada Aren\u2019t The Bargains Buyers Were Promised"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Canada cut tariffs to bring in affordable Chinese EVs, but the first arrivals are $159,000 Lotus Eletres built in Wuhan <\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/author\/bradcarscoops-com\/
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by Brad Anderson<\/a><\/p>\n

5 hours ago<\/p>\n

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Canada slashed tariffs on Chinese EVs to just 6.1 percent this year.<\/p>\n

Up to 49,000 vehicles can be imported to the country at a reduced rate.<\/p>\n

Fewer than 3,000 EVs have arrived from China since March this year.<\/p>\n

Canadians shopping for a high-end electric SUV have another name to consider, and it wears a Lotus badge. The Eletre<\/a> comes into the country at a reduced tariff rate, yet the sticker still lands well into luxury territory, nowhere near the cut-rate EVs plenty of locals were hoping the China trade deal would bring to their driveways.<\/p>\n

Thanks to a new trade deal struck between Canada and China earlier this year, EVs imported from China are now only subject to a 6.1 percent. This has generated plenty of buzz among car manufacturers looking to expand their reach into Canada<\/a>, with companies including BYD, Chery, and others all planning local launches.<\/p>\n

Read: Canada\u2019s China Deal Promised Affordable EVs, But $100,000 SUVs Are First Off The Boat<\/a><\/p>\n

Lotus<\/a> is one of the most prominent brands to benefit, as it\u2019s owned by Geely and already has a presence in Canada, allowing it to quickly take some of the vehicles initially available at this reduced quota. They\u2019re built in Wuhan and start at CA$119,000 (equal to around US$84,000 at current rates) for the base model, rising to $159,000 (US$112,000) for the flagship version.<\/p>\n


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Speaking with CTV News<\/a>, Lotus Cars Americas chief executive Max Trantini said interest in the Eletre has been high, although he didn\u2019t specify how many have been sold, nor how many have been imported. In an initial shipment sent to Canada in May, we know that 18 Eletres landed.<\/p>\n

The softer tariff has done Lotus a real favor, given that the company had to sharply hike the Eletre\u2019s US pricing in late 2024 because of tariffs there. What was originally going to be an EV starting at US$107,000 suddenly became one costing at least US$229,000.<\/p>\n

The \u201cPerfect\u201d Car For Canada?<\/p>\n


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\u201cWe developed the U.S market for this car, and also the Canadian market for this car, but then due to the tariff we had to hold the import because of that situation,\u201d Trantini said when referring to the US cars. \u201cWe believe that the car is perfect for the Canadian market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the new importation policy, up to 49,000 EVs can enter Canada at the reduced rate over the coming year. Recent data shows that 2,910 EVs from China<\/a> have arrived since March 1, though oddly, none turned up in June or so far this month.<\/p>\n

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Photos Lotus Cars<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada cut tariffs to bring in affordable Chinese EVs, but the first arrivals are $159,000 Lotus Eletres built…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,337,6619,13024,13025,6172,5369],"class_list":["post-128638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-china","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-lotus","tag-lotus-eletre","tag-prices","tag-suv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}