Tesla has stopped taking orders for the Model 3 Premium in Canada, and the company says they will not restart until about March 2027. Both versions of the Shanghai-built sedan, the rear-wheel-drive and the all-wheel-drive, have been removed from Tesla’s Canadian order page. The notice that replaced them says “Model 3 Premium orders paused after high demand exhausted Tesla’s import quota,” according to Electrek’s report on Oct. 13, 2026.
The same notice sets the condition for a restart: “Ordering resumes if Govt of Canada issues more quota, expected March 2027.” The date is an expectation, not a promise.
The quota behind the pause
The sedans are caught in an import system Ottawa built this year. Canada announced an arrangement with China on Jan. 16, 2026, and Electrek reported that the tariff on Chinese EVs fell from 100% to 6.1%. The lower rate applies only within a quota. Global Affairs Canada describes an initial country-specific quota of 49,000 electric vehicles per year, which started on March 1, 2026, with the first year running to Feb. 28, 2027.
That calendar explains Tesla’s March 2027 date. The quota year runs March through February and splits into two periods, with the second beginning on Sept. 1, 2026, so a new allotment of 49,000 permits would arrive on March 1, 2027. Permits are issued first come, first served, according to Electrek’s reading of the government notice, and the notice did not set a per-manufacturer limit. Ottawa added that it may monitor applications to provide “equitable access to the quota to eligible applicants,” and that this “could include setting aside a portion of the available quota for the use of OEMs, including new entrants.”
The government’s timeline shows how new the system is. Global Affairs Canada issued Notice No. 1162 on Feb. 25 for the first period, ran public consultations on allocation from April 7 to May 1, and issued Notice No. 1168 on Aug. 29 for the second period, which took effect at 12:00 a.m. on Sept. 1. The first period ended at 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 31. The page does not describe how permits are allocated, so the method importers use to claim them remains the main open question for any automaker waiting on a restart.
The Premium Model 3 and its C$39,490 price
The Model 3 Premium RWD launched in Canada in May at C$39,490, a record low for the car in the country, and it was built at Tesla’s Shanghai factory. That price was possible because of the tariff cut: at a 100% duty a car imported from Shanghai would carry roughly double its landed cost in tariff alone, while at 6.1% the same car can be sold at a price that competes with mainstream compacts. Electrek’s comment section drew comparisons to the Kia EV3 at about C$39,321, a reminder that rivals are close. The other long-standing cheap option, the Model 3 Long Range AWD, is built in Fremont, California, and sells for C$79,990 after Canada’s 25% counter-tariff on U.S.-made vehicles.
Without the Shanghai cars, the only Model 3 Tesla still lets Canadians order is the Performance AWD, which the order page shows at C$936 a month financed. A buyer who wanted a Canadian Model 3 for under C$40,000 has nothing to order today. Tesla’s earlier decision to send Canadian Model 3 inventory south to the United States, reported in March, shows how quickly the company has been reshuffling supply around these rules.
Does the quota data back up Tesla’s wording?
Electrek’s Fred Lambert argues it does not. He points out that the official tracker, updated Oct. 9, shows 15,931 permits used since March 1 and 33,069 remaining, about 67% of the annual 49,000. The current period started with 33,397 permits, made up of 24,500 base permits plus 8,897 carried over. If the national cap were nearly exhausted, those numbers would look different, which is why Lambert says Tesla’s phrase “import quota” does not match the official data, and he calls on Ottawa to publish company-specific allocations.
Lambert also says the 49,000 cap is small for a country that sells about 1.9 million new vehicles a year. Imports of Chinese EVs priced under $35,000 were 465 in June, 4,743 in July and 2,597 in August, then seven in September and none so far in October. The data shows national volume, not which company holds which permits, and that is the gap Lambert wants closed.
The company’s notice therefore leaves two possibilities for a buyer deciding whether to wait: Tesla ran through the permits it could obtain while a national pool remains open to others, or Tesla is being constrained in a way the public tracker cannot show. The law firm Bennett Jones has published a summary of the government’s notice on the quota, but neither it nor the official page settles that question, and Tesla’s one-line statement does not either. For now the Premium order button stays gone, and the date to watch is March 1, 2027.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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