Tesla opens massive 60,000 sq. ft. ‘flagship’ facility in Port Coquitlam this weekend amidst national sales slump

Tesla will hold the grand opening of its sprawling 60,000 sq. ft. facility in Port Coquitlam on Saturday, Aug. 23, even as sales have dramatically decreased across the country.

The new sales, service and delivery centre on 1028 Nicola Ave. was unanimously approved by council in September 2023, and is to serve as the electric car manufacturer’s main repair shop and import terminal in the Lower Mainland. 

Councillors at the time praised the new high-paying jobs and commercial use of the 7.5-acre space, despite some opposition about its rezoning from traditional agricultural land.

“I think the best thing is 80 good-paying jobs,” said Coun. Glenn Pollock, calling it a “great use of the property.”

But Tesla’s electric vehicle (EV) sales across Canada have plummeted in 2025, and British Columbia – a province once leading the nation in EV adoption – is experiencing a notable slowdown of its own, raising concerns among industry watchers.

In the first half of 2025, Tesla registrations in Canada dropped by 67 per cent, falling from over 26,000 units in the same period last year to just 9,000, according to data from the trade journal Automotive News.

The decline reflects Canada’s broader EV market contraction, triggered in large part by the discontinuation of federal and provincial rebates, and ongoing U.S.–Canada trade tensions.

B.C. has seen its share of zero-emission vehicle sales soften. In April 2025, they accounted for 15.7 per cent of all new vehicle sales in the province – down from a peak of almost 25 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, according to S&P Mobility, which tracks automatic market analytics. 

Hybrid-vehicle sales, however, have continued to increase, accounting for 20.4 per cent of all new car sales in the first quarter of 2025.

Recent data from Statistics Canada confirms the decline, showing that total sales of new zero-emission vehicles was just over 14,000 in June 2025, a 35.2 per cent drop compared to the same month last year.

Barry Penner, chair of the Energy Futures Institute, blamed provincial and federal governments for stripping away financial incentives from buyers.

“Current government policy, both federally and provincially, is out of step with the day-to-day realities facing consumers,” he said.

The federal government froze $43 million in Tesla rebate claims and barred the company from future federal incentive programs, following a spike in claims viewed as potentially fraudulent.

Provincial governments, including B.C., Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and Manitoba followed suit by stripping Tesla’s rebate eligibility.

Meanwhile, both U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods and Canada’s retaliatory tariffs have caused vehicle prices to spike. Prices for Tesla’s Model Y – its best selling vehicle – have shot up 21 per cent, according to Electrek.co.

Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO and majority owner, has also faced publish backlash for his public political profile, including support for controversial figures and his role in the Trump administration. This has included boycott movements, vandalism of dealerships and public protests.

Port Coquitlam’s facility will be Tesla’s largest service station in the region, though it will eventually be eclipsed by a new 120,000 sq. ft. facility just outside downtown Vancouver. The site includes around 650 parking spaces and doubles as a regional storage and distribution hub for parts, aimed at streamlining vehicle servicing and deliveries across the area.

Approximately 75 per cent of new Telsa vehicles would be routed through Port Coquitlam, said Jordan Grubner, the development manager of the facility, in 2023. He described the facility as a “flagship delivery centre,” where workers are anticipated to deliver about 40 cars a day.

It is the automaker’s seventh location in the Greater Vancouver region.