Toronto, Ontario — In this weekly Tuesday Ticker, Tesla flips a coin between Ontario and Quebec; while Canada marks the lowest August vehicle sales in two decades.
Ontario, Quebec—or both?
Tesla reportedly scouted factory sites in both Ontario and Quebec last week as the EV giant further teases a Canadian production site.
In June, Electrek reported that Tesla was looking at new factory sites in North America, with CEO Elon Musk suggesting Canada as an option. Electric Autonomy Canada reported last week that Tesla went on a site-scouting expedition through Ontario and Quebec while visiting nickel partner Vale Canada last month.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the matter, but not authorized to speak, told Electric Autonomy that, earlier this month, high-level Tesla employees visited Vale Canada operations in Sudbury, Ont., just ahead of the Mercedes-Volkswagen announcements,” reported the outlet. “That trip, sources say, was part of a larger location scouting mission by Tesla in Ontario and Quebec to seek out potential manufacturing locations.”
Electric Autonomy Canada also said that Tesla filed a new lobbying disclosure that states it is asking for the federal government’s support in obtaining quick permits.
“Tesla’s updated federal lobbying objectives now read as follows: ‘Seek government support to facilitate the engagement with provinces regarding permitting timelines, to increase the competitiveness of Canada and its ability to attract capital through approvals timeframes that are competitive with other manufacturing locations while working with the government to identify incentives to further increase the attractiveness of Canada,’’” reported Electric Autonomy Canada.
As of Friday’s close, Tesla shares were trading at 269.54; down 4.69 percent from Thursday.
Twenty-year slump for sales
Canada’s new-vehicle sales for August marked the lowest stats in two decades, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.
Automakers sold approximately 126,524 new vehicles last month—down 13.9 percent from the same month in 2021 and the lowest-ever August numbers since 1999, said DesRosiers.
The consultancy said the industry had hoped that “August would represent the tipping point in which the market would reverse direction and start to show sales gains.”
“Sadly, this was definitely not the case here in Canada.”
