Canada's Chinese-EV Quota Passes 60% With One Week Left in the First Window

Canada's Chinese-built EV import quota has passed the 60 percent mark with one week left in the program's first window. Global Affairs Canada's latest count shows 15,063 vehicles imported against the 24,500-vehicle allocation — 61.5 percent — as of August 24, up from 11,813 the previous week, according to Global Affairs Canada's import tracking data.

The first six-month window closes August 31. At the current weekly pace, Canada will not exhaust the allocation: another 9,437 vehicles would need to clear customs in the final seven days to hit the cap.

The cheaper class is now the bigger class

The most telling shift is in the customs-value split. Electric passenger vehicles valued at C$35,000 or less grew from 6,019 to 7,747 — 1,728 additional vehicles in one week — while the over-C$35,000 class grew from 6,491 to 7,013, up just 522. The affordable class now leads. Remember these thresholds are customs value, not the retail prices Canadians pay.

Tesla remains the dominant importer, continuing to bring Shanghai-built Model 3s into the country. The 259 conventional hybrids — all imported in July — are believed to be China-built Lincoln Nautilus models following that vehicle's return to the Canadian market.

What happens September 1

Unused allocation does not vanish: it carries forward into the second six-month window running September 1 through March 2027. By the end of that period, Chinese-built EVs from Xpeng, Geely, and other brands are expected to arrive beyond the test-and-validation vehicles several have imported so far.

For buyers tracking the first Chinese-brand EVs in Canada, the takeaway is patience with a deadline: the second window is when consumer-facing models could realistically appear, and the sub-$35,000 customs class — where the affordable cars live — is now the program's growth engine.

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