Just two weeks after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced in January he would allow limited electric-vehicle imports from China, that country’s biggest auto exporter, Chery, held its first meetings in Canada with car dealers.

 

China’s national champion BYD, now the world’s largest EV maker, is already planning to open six dealerships in Canada, an advisory firm scouting locations for BYD told Reuters. BYD has also started compliance procedures to import two passenger cars to Canada, regulatory records show.

 

Lotus, a luxury-sports carmaker owned by China's auto giant Geely, also plans to open a half dozen Canada dealerships this year – just to sell a few hundred cars, Lotus CEO Qingfeng said in an interview. And state-owned automaker Changan has a team working on a Canada launch, according to design chief Klaus Zyciora.