Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD is planning to enter the Canadian electric vehicle market, making yet another foray into a region next to the US.
While it is not immediately clear when BYD plans to branch out into Canada, documents filed by the firm say its representatives met with Canadian officials to discuss a Canadian entry and “the establishment of a new business”.
They also discussed Canada’s plans to impose tariffs on Chinese EVs — in an effort to protect local manufacturers — according to the filings.
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Following in the footsteps of the United States and the European Union, Canada said in June it was considering imposing tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
Ottawa said it sought to align itself with its allies against what the West views as a heavily subsidised Chinese industry.
It opened a month-long public consultation period on July 2 to weigh its response, noting “China’s unfair support for the EV sector, if left unchecked, could lead to an exponential surge of imports that will adversely affect planned EV investments and the transformation of Canada’s automotive sector.”
Meanwhile, if successful, this would be BYD’s second expansion into a territory sharing borders with the US, where it has currently made little headway.
BYD’s Shenzhen-listed shares were up 1.3% on Wednesday.
‘Port of entry’ into US
Early this year, the carmaker announced plans to set up a factory in US-neighbouring Mexico, a move that alarmed American automakers. BYD later said it was not looking to export vehicles from the Mexican plant.
In May, BYD also unveiled the Shark, a mid-size hybrid-electric pickup truck, in Mexico, with a starting price of 899,980 pesos ($53,442.68).
Industry insiders fear BYD’s Canadian plant will act as a way into the US automobile market.
BYD will potentially use both Canada and Mexico as “ports of entry” to the US market, which is the Chinese EV giant’s “holy grail”, Joe McCabe, CEO of US-based AutoForecast Solutions, told Automative News.
BYD’s way into the US may also become clear if former US president Donald Trump wins the upcoming election in November. Trump has said he plans to overturn outgoing president Joe Biden’s “EV mandate”.
In a speech accepting his nomination by the Republican party as its presidential candidate, Trump made a veiled reference to BYD’s planned Mexico factory and vowed to bring Chinese EV makers to set up shop in the US.
“Right now as we speak, large factories… are being built across the border in Mexico” by China, Trump said earlier this month.
“Those plants will be built in the United States and our people are going to man those plants.”
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- Reuters, with additional inputs from Vishakha Saxena
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