Tesla has stopped taking orders for the Model 3 Premium in Canada. Both Shanghai-built trims, the Premium RWD at C$39,490 and the Premium AWD at C$49,990, are greyed out in the configurator, and a banner on the order page gives the reason: "Model 3 Premium orders paused after high demand exhausted Tesla's import quota. Ordering resumes if Govt of Canada issues more quota, expected March 2027." Drive Tesla Canada and Tesla North both reported the change on 12 October 2026. The Model 3 Performance, built in the United States, stays on sale at C$74,990.
What the government's counter says
The quota Tesla refers to is Canada's tariff-rate quota for Chinese-built EVs: 49,000 cars a year at the 6.1% most-favoured-nation rate instead of the 100% surtax, in a quota year that runs from 1 March to the end of February. TeslAnt covered the first window filling to 61% in August and its close with 8,897 permits unused on 31 August. Those unused permits rolled into the second window, which opened on 1 September with 33,397 available.
Global Affairs Canada's utilisation report, updated on 9 October, shows that window almost untouched. September admitted 328 vehicles, leaving 33,069 of the year's 49,000 unused. Only 160 of the 328 were battery-electric passenger cars; the other 168 came in under a tariff line for hybrids without a plug, which rules out a Tesla.
| Year one, 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027 | |
|---|---|
| Annual quota | 49,000 |
| Used in the first window (March to August) | 15,603 |
| Used in the second window (September) | 328 |
| Remaining as of 9 October | 33,069 |
| Next quota year opens | 1 March 2027 |
Two numbers that do not match
Tesla's banner says "Tesla's import quota" is exhausted. The public counter says 99% of the second window is still open. And the first window, which every count so far attributes overwhelmingly to Tesla, ran at 5,982 cars in July and 5,490 in August, against 160 battery-electric cars in the whole of September.
The quota rules offer one possible reconciliation, which nobody has confirmed. Permits go out first-come, first-served with no fixed per-manufacturer ceiling, but Notice to Importers No. 1168, which governs the second window, says the department "will monitor the application and issuance of import permits for the purpose of providing equitable access to the quota to eligible applicants. This could include setting aside a portion of the available quota for the use of OEMs, including new entrants." Tesla took almost the entire first window on its own, and BYD has since put a Canadian site online. Whether Ottawa has capped Tesla's share, or Tesla has chosen to hold back, neither the company nor the department has said. Global Affairs Canada publishes utilisation, not per-company allocations.
What a Canadian buyer is left with
The C$39,490 Model 3, the cheapest Tesla sedan Canada has been offered in years, is off the menu for at least four and a half months unless more permits arrive sooner. Tesla has not said what happens to orders already placed or how much inventory remains. The Performance trim never depended on the quota and is the only Model 3 a Canadian can order today.
Why Europe should watch
Europe's Model 3 comes from the same Shanghai plant under a different regime: a 7.8% countervailing duty fixed per manufacturer for five years, not a permit window. A fixed duty raises the price of the cheapest Model 3; a permit system can switch it off, and Canada has just shown that happening.