Tesla has reversed a change to its Canadian website that briefly gave its paused Model 3 Premium the range of the US-built version, a day after the update fueled speculation that the company could return to American supply after halting orders for Shanghai-built cars over an import quota.
The Model 3 Premium Rear-Wheel Drive was listed on Monday with an EPA-estimated range of 584 kilometers (363 miles) and a 0-100 km/h time of 5.2 seconds, according to screenshots shared on X by user ‘RJTesla’ and first flagged the change.
By Tuesday morning, the Premium specs on Tesla’s Model 3 page in both English and French, and its comparison page, again showed 463 kilometers (288 miles) and 6.2 seconds. The configurator still shows the Premium grayed out.
Tesla has not commented publicly on either change, and the order banner it posted on October 12 is still active.
Specs matching Fremont
The 584-kilometer figure is the same 363 miles Tesla lists on its US website for the Model 3 Premium Rear-Wheel Drive, which is built in Fremont, California, and sold with a 4.9-second 0-60 mph time.
The figures are also an exact match for the Fremont-built Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive that Tesla sold in Canada from October 2024. That car was listed with 584 kilometers of range, a 5.2-second 0-100 km/h time and a curb weight of 1,745 kilograms (3,847 pounds).
The weight is not a clue. The 1,745-kilogram figure appeared on Monday’s sheet and remains on the reverted one for the Shanghai-built car. Tesla’s US site lists its Premium Rear-Wheel Drive at 3,759 pounds (1,705 kilograms).
The acceleration figure is a weaker clue as well. Tesla had already shown 5.2 seconds for the Shanghai-built car in Canada in May, before it cut the listing to 6.2 seconds as the listed rear motor changed to a less powerful unit.
US figures
Other parts of the Canadian site have moved toward US specifications since the order halt.
The Model 3 Performance, now the only Model 3 Canadians can order, is listed at C$74,990 ($53,400) with 528 horsepower and 509 kilometers (316 miles) of range. Those are the figures Tesla introduced for the US Performance on October 2.
Tesla listed the Canadian Performance at 460 horsepower when it added the Premium All-Wheel Drive in June. The Canadian specs now also show the 16-inch center touchscreen that came with the US update.
Tesla cut the Performance’s Canadian price from C$89,990 to C$74,990 in May, when it moved Canadian Model 3 supply to Shanghai. It has not said whether the Performance it sells now comes from Shanghai, which would need quota permits, or from the United States, which would face Canada’s counter-tariff.
It remains orderable while the two Premium versions, both made in Shanghai, are paused, and the trim filter on Tesla’s Canadian inventory page offers only the Performance for the Model 3.
The Premium All-Wheel Drive, priced from C$49,990 ($35,600), now lists a 4.0-second 0-100 km/h time, down from the 4.4 seconds shown at its June launch, and a curb weight of 1,828 kilograms.
That is the 4,030 pounds Tesla lists for the US car. Its 570-kilometer (354-mile) range is still above the US car’s 346 miles, so the sheet does not match either version cleanly.
The Banner
Tesla stopped taking Canadian orders for the Rear-Wheel Drive Premium, priced from C$39,490 ($28,100), and the All-Wheel Drive Premium on October 12.
The banner on its configurator still reads: “Model 3 Premium orders paused after high demand exhausted Tesla’s import quota. Ordering resumes if Govt of Canada issues more quota, expected March 2027.” The Premium remains on the page, grayed out at “From $39,490.”
The comparison page still describes the paused car as Tesla’s “Maximum Range Premium Sport Sedan” at C$39,490, with no order link, while the Model Y and Cybertruck columns carry one.
A quota that is not full
The quota, agreed by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 16, replaced the 100% surtax on Chinese-made EVs that took effect on October 1, 2024. It admits up to 49,000 vehicles in its first year at a 6.1% tariff, with the cap rising 6.5% a year.
Government data do not show an exhausted quota. Canada had used 15,931 of the 49,000 permits in its first quota year, leaving 33,069, according to the Global Affairs Canada report updated on Friday.
The second six-month window, which opened on September 1 with 33,397 permits after 8,897 rolled over, has recorded 328 vehicles, all in September and none in October. Those were 153 electric cars priced above C$35,000 ($24,900) at customs value, seven at or below it and 168 non-plug-in hybrid SUVs.
The October 23 figures were unchanged from October 9.
The data do not name automakers and count vehicles that have entered Canada, not permits issued.
Iain Myrans, Tesla’s National Senior Manager for Public Policy and Business Development in Canada, wrote on LinkedIn that Global Affairs Canada “is providing in advance the maximum number of cars OEMs can expect to bring in for a period.” He did not say what Tesla’s figure was.
The department’s notice for the second window says the quota is administered on a first-come, first-served basis and that it may set aside part of it for automakers, including new entrants. No set-aside has been announced.
A Global Affairs Canada spokesperson, Rachael Dolan, declined to give company or shipment details to The Canadian Press, citing commercial confidentiality. The department has said it is consulting interested companies about the remaining quota.
Carney said in May that the Chinese-built EVs entering Canada had historically been Teslas. “Historically, they’re all Teslas,” he said at the Economic Club of New York, according to the agency. Daniel Ross of Canadian Black Book estimated that 97% of the Chinese-built vehicles imported this year were Teslas, The Canadian Press reported.
Going back to Fremont
A Fremont-built Premium would avoid the quota but face Canada’s 25% counter-tariff on US-made vehicles, which has pushed automakers to reroute supply away from American plants.
The tariff, in force since April 9, 2025, applies in full to US-built vehicles that do not comply with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, and to the non-Canadian, non-Mexican content of those that do.
Tesla responded within weeks. It raised the Model 3 Long Range All-Wheel Drive by C$11,000 to C$79,990 ($57,000) and the Performance by C$10,000 to C$89,990 ($64,100), and dropped the Rear-Wheel Drive, by then priced at C$55,990 ($39,900), according to MobileSyrup.
The brand withdrew its remaining US-built Model 3s from its Canadian site in early March this year.
Remission from that surtax is tied to Canadian production. The 2026 remission order covers imports through April 8, 2027, and does not publish which importers qualify.
The switch to Shanghai is what let Tesla cut the Model 3’s Canadian starting price to C$39,490 in May.
The model is not eligible for Canada’s federal EV rebate of up to C$5,000 ($3,600), which requires vehicles built in Canada or a free-trade partner and, for imports, a transaction value of C$50,000 ($35,600) or less, unlike the Berlin-built Model Y, which qualifies.
