Quebec EV buyers’ relationship with Tesla is showing signs of souring as sales in the province plummeted in the first quarter of 2025.
Only 524 Teslas were registered in Quebec between Jan. 1 and March 31, according to Quebec’s auto insurance board, the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec.
That’s a 90 per cent drop from the previous quarter when 5,097 of the electric automaker’s cars were registered in the province, as first reported by Le Devoir.
The data, also obtained by CBC News, shows that Tesla registrations in Quebec — Canada’s largest EV market, including for Tesla — rose 30 per cent from 2023 to 2024 before nosediving in early 2025.
And though CEO Elon Musk and his involvement in the Trump administration has “absolutely” had an impact on sales, says Daniel Breton, president of Electric Mobility Canada, the reasons go beyond a general dislike of the EV company’s founder, with tariffs and rebate cutbacks likely contributing to the decline.
The federal EV rebate program Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) ended March 31, and Quebec’s program was paused between Feb. 1 and April 1. Quebec-based EV buyers used to be able to stack the rebates, benefitting from as much as $12,000 off the cost of a new vehicle.
“Some dealers told me that … basically the message was, well, wait until April,” said Breton, whose group is focused on advocacy for electric transportation. “Because the [provincial] rebate was about to come back.”
Breton believes more fulsome data for the same time period will show that Tesla isn’t the only EV maker to take a hit in Quebec’s market.
According to preliminary S&P Global data, electric vehicle registrations in Quebec declined 65 per cent.
Also hurting sales could be the 25 per cent tariff on U.S.-made EVs, including Tesla, Rivian and Lucid cars, imposed by the federal government in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s levies.
“Now that the [Quebec] rebate is back, we’ll see what happens with the sales of EVs in general and Tesla in particular,” said Breton, who has owned a Model 3 Tesla for four years.
“I’m really disappointed in what Elon Musk has been doing for the past year or two. So I hope that they find a way to resolve this,” he said. “To me, Elon Musk is really hurting the brand.”
The combined effect of Musk’s politics and tariffs have been felt outside of Quebec, with Tesla sales dropping 49 per cent year-over-year, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
Tesla caught in political controversy amid U.S. imposed tariffs on Canadian imports
In addition to working for the Trump administration, which has repeatedly threatened Canadian sovereignty and imposed damaging tariffs that have upended financial markets, Musk has made dismissive comments about Canada, including saying on X — the social media platform he owns — that it is “not a real country.”
He has also faced significant criticism for amplifying and endorsing racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories on X and made a gesture at Trump’s inauguration many interpreted as a Nazi salute.
And Tesla is also under investigation in Canada after the company claimed to have sold 8,653 vehicles in the last three days of the federal rebate program, which would have amounted to $43 million in rebate claims. That questionable number raised suspicions, leading to the probe by the federal government.
Despite some of the current concerns, Anne Picard, a Tesla Model Y owner from Dorval, Que., has owned two Teslas for eight years — and says she wouldn’t buy anything else.
“I don’t have enough trust in [other companies] to give the same level of reliability,” she said.
She said anyone who can should buy an electric vehicle and believes EV consumers should separate their political convictions from their consumer decisions.
“The electric vehicle wouldn’t be what it is today if it weren’t for Elon Musk,” said Picard, who works in IT project management, after parking her Tesla at Montreal’s Jean Talon Market.
Philippe Bergeron Bélanger, who was charging his electric Audi Q4 in Montreal’s Plateau neighbourhood Thursday, said he, too, tries to “leave politics out of my choices,” but he won’t be replacing his car with a Tesla when its lease is up in a year and a half.
Chinese EVs once provided an affordable alternative, Bergeron Bélanger noted, but not since Canada slapped more than 100 per cent tariffs on those cars.
“I don’t feel like having an awkward debate at family dinners or with friends. Otherwise, [Tesla] probably would have been in my top three,” said Bergeron Bélanger, who is a managing partner at an investment firm and says he doesn’t agree with Musk’s actions but is making the choice more based on how polarizing owning the car itself has become.
Picard, on the other hand, believes that will blow over soon — if it hasn’t already.
“C’est un feu de paille,” she said, using a French expression that translates to “straw fire” and is the equivalent of “a flash in the pan.”
Breton says there’s no way to know right now whether the Musk backlash will have lasting effects, saying the next quarter will start to paint a fuller picture.
