Looks like Tesla’s profiting off government subsidies has finally hit a wall in Canada.
After Tesla requested reimbursement for an unprecedented 8,669 Canadian EV rebates in just three days, the Canadian government froze Tesla’s rebate payments and paused all future eligibility.
For those keeping score, Tesla claimed to sell 1.5 vehicles per minute, a huge spike that came after the company was alerted that the rebate fund would run out.
That means that $43 million in Tesla rebate payments are frozen and future subsidies paused. Read on for the full story!
I dont know if this is what they did but… Its not illegal to legitimately sell the cars to the dealerships at cost, get the rebates and then have the dealerships sell the cars as “demonstrators” or “dealer stock”
You’re now technically selling a used car, but to someone buying a car saving a few grand “why is that one cheaper” “Ah its technically a demonstration model, but we never put any miles on it. So instead of 5 years warranty, you get 4 years 10 months, but it is $10,000 cheaper.” Can be a hell of a motivator.
Also it pumps Teslas short term numbers and move old stock at the same time.
I think you’ll find that (aside from Tesla dealerships not being independent businesses) judges aren’t stupid. They issue judgements on what things are, not what you call them.
This kind of legal shenanigan has been smacked down time and time again (even in corrupt third-world countries like the USA!) to the scammers’ shock. Tesla is fucking around … and finding out.
Hearing my pride and joy get called a third world country hurts pretty bad. But I honestly can’t correct you, our judiciary, something broke? Folks used to trust judges. I’m old enough to remember those days.
I’ve stood before a judge, got my ass handed to me, and I took the beating without complaint because everybody respected the judge (and let’s be real, I knew I did what I did, it was speeding and I am true to my name, I was absolutely speeding). Those days are gone.
Yeah, I imagine it stings.
That’s OK. I learned more than a few things about my nation of citizenship when I moved abroad and watched it from afar. A lot of them stung badly. You get over it; even get motivated to try to undo some of the bad things.
You seem to be under the impression that I approve. No, Elons a cunt.
But follow me here… Tesla dealerships are OWNED by Tesla, but will almost certainly be a seperate company on paper. If only to limit liability. For a vehicle to be “sold” and to claim the EV rebates iit has to have an owner, so “Tesla Dealers LLC” buys the cars off “Tesla MV production PTY LTD” money changes hands, they legally register the cars under the business name and then dont drive them. Even if they arent Ford Motor Company certainly has a motor pool for execs and those cars will likely be owned by the company too.
It happens all the time in brand new motor vehicle sales. More like 1 to 3 cars a month at a dealership, usually to push the dealership over a threshold for a “volume bonus” (Sell 10 Corollas this month and the dealership gets $20,000 from Toyota)
IF THIS IS WHAT THEY DID - Tesla Canada buys a shitload off Tesla Corporate cheap, pays the registration and tax, claims the subsidies. Do it with the oldest stock on the books to get rid of it and pump up Teslas plunging sales and stock and when the Canadian government cries “foul” (justifiably) Elon and Donny can shout about how its illegal and Canada is engaging in a trade war on private businesses who didnt break any laws… Sound like.something Elon and Donny would cook up?
I wouldnt be surprised if they try and ship some of these “used” cars into the US and then cancel the registration to get the money back. I dont know how the taxes and stuff works on “used” cars. I’m just saying the basic practice isnt illegal and happens all the time and it doesnt mean they commited outright fraud. They definitely are doing something dodgy.
Again, judges don’t GIVE A SHIT what you call it. They give a shit what things ARE.
And they will utterly fucking smack Tesla over this.
Judges aren’t stupid people (at least not in Canada; can’t vouch for American judges seeing some of the decisions Down South). You’re not going to fool them by renaming things. That’s the kind of view of law that a toddler would hold. “I didn’t spill my juice because I call it … ah … foobles now!”
Tesla are their own dealerships. There’s no selling involved.
Tesla OWN their own dealerships, I imagine that if each one “Tesla Long Beach” or whatever isnt its own company then the dealerships in each country would be part of one company. The manufacturing plants and car production side of things will be a different company to the home batteries and the dealerships. All with the same parent company.
Boss, you just described an absolutely bog-standard type of fraud XD If that is what occurred, people will go to prison.
The Canadian program also has, you know, rules. Rebates are marked as commercial or consumer. Every sales record I saw for the Teslas in question here, they were entirely consumer-grade from what I saw. So, if Tesla was selling the cars to themselves, they applied for the wrong type of rebate.
If thats what they did How is it fraud?
Companies can own assets, provided they filled out all the correct paperwork, paid the taxes and insurances or whatever Canada does they now “Own” the cars and can do with them as they please. Including sell them. Provided they dont misrepresent the cars as “brand new” and sell them as “used cars” then its not fraud.
Doing it on this scale is dodgy as hell which is why the Govt froze the rebates. But I absolutely beleive Elon would do something like.this to prop up the sales numbers and stock price while forcing the Canadian govt to either make an issue of it (which means he can play victim) or let him get away with it. (Ego boost)
The company already owned the cars, boss :) Tesla the car manufacturer and Tesla the car dealership are both the same company, that single company is publicly traded under the symbol $TSLA.
Here’s the Canadian statute. Notice that the jail terms are vastly longer if the deception influence the stock market in any way. IDK, I’m not a lawyer.
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/section-380.html
Tesla isnt one company, its the parent company. Tesla Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary.
But other than that you raise a fair point. It entirely depends on when the rebate is issued, it depends if its issued on the planned manufacture of the car, the car entering production, when its produced or when its sold. I assumed that when it was first registered for road use with the government with its first owner.
We’re kind of splitting hairs on this given that its hypothetical until we figure out their rort. But if you look up a cars history of ownership, it doesnt show the manufacturer or the dealership. They own a car shaped asset with a hypothetical value, it isnt until money changes hands and the car is registered/taxed by the govt that it has an “owner” and that seemed the most likely point to issue any kind of rebate or incentive to produce EVs because thats the point thats hardest to do sneaky shit like try and scam the government.
Yeah its probably against the rules, but Elon has no respect for rules.