'A disaster:' Auto sector cries foul after Ottawa ends EV rebates but keeps sales mandate
A day after the federal government announced that its rebate program to lower the cost of electric vehicles had run out of funding, the auto sector is banding together to renew its calls to eliminate EV sales mandates.
Three of Canada’s largest auto sector lobby groups — the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, Global Automakers of Canada and Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association — held a press conference on Tuesday to reiterate their longstanding protest against the mandate.
Federal EV sales mandates require that at least 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold by automakers in 2026 be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), with the target increasing incrementally to 100 per cent by 2035. It would impose penalties on automakers who fail to meet the targets.
Meanwhile, the federal Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) program that gave consumers up to $5,000 when purchasing an EV ran out of money on Sunday, about two months before it was scheduled to expire in March.
“The end of the iZEV purchase incentive program while maintaining electric vehicle mandates will be a disaster for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the Canadian economy,” the groups said in a press release on Tuesday.
“I think our members feel a little bit like they’ve been let down,” David Adams, president of Global Automakers of Canada, said. “There was always the assumption that if you’re going to put a mandate in place, ‘OK, government, you’ve got to do your part’ and build out the charging infrastructure, put an incentive in place.”
Both the auto sector and consumers have also criticized government investment levels in EV charging infrastructure.
Brian Kingston, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, said that despite
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