And automakers are asking Ottawa to rethink upcoming EV mandates if consumers aren’t offered incentives to buy them
- Nissan and Hyundai are offering the equivalent of the federal government’s rebate on EVs
- The feds made a surprise announcement recently that the $5,000 rebate has been “paused”
- In the wake of falling rebates, automaker groups are asking Ottawa to rethink its EV sales mandates, too
While those are the only two who have announced this so far, we won’t be surprised if other automakers step up as well. In its announcement, Nissan said the sudden suspension is “unfair to valued customers who were in the process of purchasing an electric vehicle.”
UPDATE: Called it: General Motors also said it’d step up to offer the same manufacturer incentive to Canadian buyers through the end of this month. —Ed.
That unexpected federal announcement isn’t sitting very well with the industry, because the same government that’s pausing its incentives to buy a ZEV has also mandated that automakers work towards only offering ZEVs.
Three groups – the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA), the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, and the Global Automakers of Canada – issued a formal response to the announcement asking the government to reconsider its upcoming mandates. The mandates, announced in 2023, require a sales target for automakers of 20% ZEV sales in 2026; and then a gradual increase to 60% by 2030, and then to 100% by 2035 and beyond.
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