Geely Auto is officially entering Canada, with its first vehicles going on sale there in 2027. The Chinese carmaker announced on October 9 that it has started setting up local operations and is building a retail and service network ahead of the launch. Canada will be the Geely brand’s first market in North America.
Geely Auto Canada is based in Markham, Ontario and led by managing director Bryan Wu. The company has not named any models, prices or dealer locations yet, but says it is working with experienced local partners, which points to a conventional dealer network rather than direct sales. More details will be shared closer to the launch, and a Canadian website is already up at geely.ca.
“Canada represents an important next step in Geely Auto’s international growth,” said Wu. “We are entering this market with a long-term commitment, bringing our global technology and engineering capabilities to Canadian drivers while building strong local partnerships and the support customers need to feel confident in choosing Geely. We know that trust is earned over time, and we are committed to earning it here.”
As for what Canadians will get, a Geely EX5 and EX2 were spotted being unloaded at Toronto Pearson airport in late May, Drive Tesla Canada reported at the time. Both will be familiar to Malaysians, as the EX5 is the twin of the Proton eMas 7 and the EX2 is the basis of the Proton eMas 5. Geely also sells plug-in hybrid and petrol models, and has not said whether its Canadian line-up will be fully electric.
The timing follows Canada’s decision in January to break ranks with the US on Chinese EVs. Under a deal with Beijing, which also saw China lower its tariffs on Canadian canola, Ottawa replaced the 100% surtax it imposed in 2024 with the 6.1% most-favoured-nation tariff for up to 49,000 China-made EVs a year. The quota came into force on March 1 and will increase gradually every year, while imports beyond it still face the 100% surtax.
Import permits are handed out in two six-month periods on a first-come, first-served basis, according to Electrek. Demand fell short in the first period, so 8,897 unused slots were rolled over, leaving 33,397 vehicles available in the current period, which runs until February 28, 2027. Geely’s first cars will most likely come in under the second quota year.
Geely’s parent company is no stranger to Canada, as Zhejiang Geely Holding also owns Volvo, Polestar and Lotus, all of which are already sold there. In May, Lotus shipped 18 China-built Eletre SUVs from Wuhan to Canada, the first known batch of Chinese-made EVs to be imported under the new rules.
Geely Auto will not be the only new Chinese brand in Canadian showrooms either. Chery’s Omoda and Jaecoo brands say they will arrive in late 2026, BYD is planning around 20 dealerships starting in Toronto, and Tesla is already using the quota to sell a Shanghai-built Model 3 from C$39,490. None of the new Chinese brands has started selling passenger cars in Canada yet.
The picture is very different across the border, as The Wall Street Journal points out. The US Connected Vehicle Rule, finalised in January 2025, requires carmakers owned or controlled by Chinese or Russian entities to obtain authorisation from the US commerce department to keep selling connected vehicles there. Geely-controlled Polestar revealed in June that it had been refused authorisation, and it can no longer sell new models in the US from the 2027 model year onwards, although Volvo was granted approval in May.
US lawmakers want to go further. The Connected Vehicle Security Act, a bipartisan bill tabled by senators Bernie Moreno and Elissa Slotkin, would ban vehicles, parts and software made in or in partnership with China from the US market. It was unanimously approved by the Senate commerce committee in July, and in September the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents carmakers including Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, asked Congress for a permanent ban on connected vehicles, software and hardware from foreign adversaries.
Earlier this year, Democratic senators also urged president Donald Trump to bar Chinese carmakers from building cars in the US, while transportation secretary Sean Duffy told Ford to cut ties with Geely, CATL and BYD last month. For now, that leaves Canada as the only way into North America for the Geely brand.
Geely Auto Group, which owns the Geely, Zeekr and Lynk & Co brands as well as a 49.9% stake in Proton, sold 3,024,567 vehicles in 2025, up 39% from the year before. Of these, 1,687,767 were new energy vehicles (EVs and plug-in hybrids), up 90%. It has sold over 2.23 million vehicles from January to September this year, with the growth coming from overseas.
