If I’m not mistaken the program had a set budget so the money would have been spent either way, it’s just that Tesla had tons of claims pending and they submitted all of them at once when dealers were told the program would end.
The OP article is paywalled, so I can’t read it, but this one expands more on the issue.
For instance, “four Tesla stores claimed roughly 8,600 sales in one weekend from January 10 through 12, just hours after the feds announced the rebate program would be paused when it ran out of money.”
Red flag.
"Speaking as a person who once toiled in the dealership environment, this author will say it is not unheard of for the business office to backdate an occasional deal in order to make some sort of quota or qualify for a volume bonus. One or two machines recorded for yesterday instead of today isn’t generally the end of the world.
But the level of alleged chicanery on display at these Tesla stores seems egregious, particularly since it involves massive amounts of money from the public purse."
Very questionable, indeed.
Why would those stores wait to submit those claims, assuming that’s the explanation? They risked not getting the rebates at all, and it makes no sense to hold on to thousands of claims like that, regardless.
“Keep in mind that Tesla is struggling when it comes to sales in Canada right now,” Carscoops writes. “According to the National Post, deliveries nosedived some 70 percent between December 2024 and January 2025. When the Canadian government announced that it would soon end electric vehicle subsidies, it was expected that Tesla would see a small bump up in sales. However, a giant spike like this is a different ballgame altogether.”
How many red flags do we need?
I hope the findings of the investigation are made available to the public.
Paywalled… but. TheStar has 6 months for a buck right now -might be worth paying to follow their election and tariff coverage, which is pretty good, and avoid all those American owned papers entirely.
That’s what I’m saying, they didn’t have to submit the paperwork as they did the sales, so that would have been sales for the past few months and they submitted all the paperwork at once.
Dealerships are commission environments. They don’t pay their people until that rebate comes through.
At times they’ll hold back one or two sales to apply for the rebate at the beginning of the next month. This happens when a dealership has had a particularly good month and has already hit its quota to get its incentive bonus from Ford/Chrysler/Etc… so they might as well bank them for the next month.
But never in a million years would they hold back $56000 in rebates. Their salesmen would riot.
Source: Slogged in that hellpit of a career for two years before getting out.
Tesla doesn’t work the same way as other dealerships, they’re paid employees, you can’t negotiate the price, they just operate showrooms and offer test-drives.
Edit: don’t understand the downvotes when it was just an explanation that the job is different from other dealerships…
That then begs the question of why would anyone do that shit job if there wasn’t the possibility of making fat stacks of commission. The earning potential (if you’re good) is literally the only good part about a dealership sales job! Everything else is absolutely miserable.
Same for any service job honestly, some people would rather have the stability and because the process doesn’t involve negotiations I’m sure the job is much more pleasant.
Does Tesla have independent dealers in Canada, or is it company owned showrooms like in the US?
If it’s the latter like I recall, then that would indicate that Tesla was sitting on them (not random local dealers) and only submitted them at the last moment.
If I’m not mistaken the program had a set budget so the money would have been spent either way, it’s just that Tesla had tons of claims pending and they submitted all of them at once when dealers were told the program would end.
That’s my understanding of the situation anyway…
The OP article is paywalled, so I can’t read it, but this one expands more on the issue.
For instance, “four Tesla stores claimed roughly 8,600 sales in one weekend from January 10 through 12, just hours after the feds announced the rebate program would be paused when it ran out of money.”
Red flag.
"Speaking as a person who once toiled in the dealership environment, this author will say it is not unheard of for the business office to backdate an occasional deal in order to make some sort of quota or qualify for a volume bonus. One or two machines recorded for yesterday instead of today isn’t generally the end of the world.
But the level of alleged chicanery on display at these Tesla stores seems egregious, particularly since it involves massive amounts of money from the public purse."
Very questionable, indeed.
Why would those stores wait to submit those claims, assuming that’s the explanation? They risked not getting the rebates at all, and it makes no sense to hold on to thousands of claims like that, regardless.
Then you get this report:
“Keep in mind that Tesla is struggling when it comes to sales in Canada right now,” Carscoops writes. “According to the National Post, deliveries nosedived some 70 percent between December 2024 and January 2025. When the Canadian government announced that it would soon end electric vehicle subsidies, it was expected that Tesla would see a small bump up in sales. However, a giant spike like this is a different ballgame altogether.”
How many red flags do we need?
I hope the findings of the investigation are made available to the public.
Paywalled… but. TheStar has 6 months for a buck right now -might be worth paying to follow their election and tariff coverage, which is pretty good, and avoid all those American owned papers entirely.
Honestly, as much as I agree with you on supporting Canadian media, the Stars website is such hot garbage I can’t recommend it.
And canceling is a whole multi step operation.
Isn’t the Star owned by PostMedia, which is an American company? If so, it’s not legitimate Canadian media.
Maybe? I haven’t kept up to date. I subscribed awhile ago and canceled after they broke the site when I used ad blockers.
No they claimed thousands of sales in one weekend.
That’s what I’m saying, they didn’t have to submit the paperwork as they did the sales, so that would have been sales for the past few months and they submitted all the paperwork at once.
Dealerships are commission environments. They don’t pay their people until that rebate comes through.
At times they’ll hold back one or two sales to apply for the rebate at the beginning of the next month. This happens when a dealership has had a particularly good month and has already hit its quota to get its incentive bonus from Ford/Chrysler/Etc… so they might as well bank them for the next month.
But never in a million years would they hold back $56000 in rebates. Their salesmen would riot.
Source: Slogged in that hellpit of a career for two years before getting out.
Tesla doesn’t work the same way as other dealerships, they’re paid employees, you can’t negotiate the price, they just operate showrooms and offer test-drives.
Edit: don’t understand the downvotes when it was just an explanation that the job is different from other dealerships…
Jeez, really?
That then begs the question of why would anyone do that shit job if there wasn’t the possibility of making fat stacks of commission. The earning potential (if you’re good) is literally the only good part about a dealership sales job! Everything else is absolutely miserable.
Same for any service job honestly, some people would rather have the stability and because the process doesn’t involve negotiations I’m sure the job is much more pleasant.
That’s their claim, yes. I’m skeptical personally, but that’s what the investigation is for.
Does Tesla have independent dealers in Canada, or is it company owned showrooms like in the US?
If it’s the latter like I recall, then that would indicate that Tesla was sitting on them (not random local dealers) and only submitted them at the last moment.
Then why would the date be the same weekend?
Because it appears that Tesla may have fabricated the sales to claim the government credits before they went away.
We don’t know the date of sale on the claims, just the dates when they claims were sent.
Tesla does not have independent dealers. All stores are corporate owned.