Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD is gearing up for a real push into Canada, and it’s leaving some pretty clear breadcrumbs in the form of new job listings out of Toronto.
The automaker has posted at least 10 senior corporate roles based in Toronto, a strong sign it’s actively building out a local leadership team to lead a Canadian market entry. Going by recent postings on LinkedIn, BYD North America wants to stand up a full corporate operation here, covering marketing, sales, legal, and dealer operations.
On the executive side, BYD is hunting for a Commercial Director to steer its overall business strategy and commercial growth in the country. To get its physical footprint and distribution network going, it’s also hiring a Network Development Manager, a role centred on building and managing relationships with local dealer partners.
For the consumer-facing side, the company wants a Marketing Manager to run national campaigns, brand positioning, and vehicle launches, the person tasked with getting Canadians familiar with its passenger EVs. That role would work alongside a newly hired Product Manager and a Sales Manager to drive customer acquisition and handle retail conversions.
BYD is also hiring an Operations Manager and an Aftersales Manager to oversee parts, service, and customer care. There’s also an Auto Finance Manager to handle vehicle financing structures, plus in-house Legal Counsel to deal with Canadian regulatory and corporate requirements.
To keep up with all that hiring, BYD has posted for a Human Resources & Administration Manager too, with a salary range of $90,000 to $135,000 per year, to manage recruitment and workplace culture.
The job descriptions flat out say BYD is bringing its momentum to Canada to grow its passenger vehicle brand. The company has sold electric buses here before, but these Toronto-based corporate roles point to a dedicated effort to launch its consumer EV lineup for Canadian drivers.
All the job postings on LinkedIn were made by Annie Li, the HR Manager for BYD North America.
Previous reports have claimed BYD wants to open possibly 20 storefronts across Canada, but that has never been confirmed by the company.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s deal with China recently lowered EV tariffs from 100% to 6.1%, with a cap of 49,000 annual cars to enter Canada. The deal was made to also restore valuable canola exports to China.
Are you interested in buying a BYD EV when they launch in Canada?
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Must be willing to join the CCP.
No Canadian quality to join the CCP. CCP is not a party that can easily join.
Epstien IslandMar-A-Lago is a much better place to get your tariff exemptions.And tickets to Epstein Island
Yeah, this is going to end well.
No benefit to our auto industry and will be one more cause of friction with the US. But, hey, a few cheap cars. A real win for consumers. Unfortunately, we’re no longer in a position to be a consumer driven economy.
in ordinary times sure… someone would like to see our auto industry move to another country already… does it suck for workers of course… we get paid low wages so we want cheap products. vicious cycle
It’s the US auto makers ripping people off selling junk. Chinese vehicles are actually good, reliable and way ahead on technology.
vicious cycle that is 100% of our own making.
letting in cheap EVs won’t help anyone. We need decisions that help boost our productivity not ones that further our decline. A country that produces nothing and only consumes is barely sovereign. Importing a few cheap trinkets won’t help.
Carney is continuing with the bread and circuses policies.
Being paid low wages is because the skills is low. Outdated American auto Tech.
The reason was that China had retaliated hard on tariffs. It was hurting farmers & fishermen. The main benefit (besides cars light years ahead of US auto makers) is not having as many Chinese tariffs on our exports. Trade is a two way street.
US made vehicles are junk and their govt is even worse. I’m so happy we’re joining the rest of the world with much better tech
No European car manufacturers has ever done anything in Canada, no assembly line, nothing. Chinese cars have been pouring into Canada for years ( Shanghai Tesla’s). And all of a sudden a few technologically advanced vehicles are coming in for a great price and everybody starts whining
Volvo assembled cars in Halifax until 1998.
So nothing then.
Canada has been the side kick for the US and there has not been any benefit than supporting the declining empire. Canada should have been dealing with tge emerging markets long ago. We failed to do that and the economy is in shambles.
The economy isn’t in shambles actually.
i love american price gouging too. stealerships are my friends
Nope, I will not buy any Chinese EV as long as they are heavily subsidized by the CCP for the purpose of dumping.
Be my guest, it’s your loss
I love bailing out GM and Stellantis with my tax dollars.
Absolutely! I drove their cars in Mexico and was impressed with the quality. Been studying the Shark for a while now and look at the reviews from Australia in YouTube. Impressed.
NA has a lot to learn and needed the incentive to do so. Why would I spend 105k on a truck I can get for 48k USD which has better technology and nicer quality? There’s good competition and bad competition and I think BYD will force the industry to relook at its pricing and product which is a good thing.
If you need proof, look at what Tesla has done recently, dropping the price of its cars significantly ahead of the BYD launch. They are trying to get market saturation before they get out priced and out classed by the Chinese cars, because once people realize that Tesla is overpriced plastic crap surrounding two motors and a battery with a fancy iPad, they will be dumping their cars in the future
Don’t be so hard on the Tesla. Their global sales are growing strongly in the markets where they compete directly with Chinese, so must be doing something right to achieve higher sales. All the hype is on FSD right now and Tesla is an absolute leader.
Teslas look like Flinstone cars next to these new Chinese EV’s
Leader cause they had no competition !!! A car w 2 motors, a battery & iPad!!!
Tesla self Driving is like windows 3.1 compared to Chinese EVs. They have had self driving cars for years now and work perfectly in dense population and traffic.
First Chinese built EVs to arrive in Canada will teslas.
I will absolutely buy a Chinese EV they are better then everything we make in China or the USA and priced way better . Canada and America don’t care about the workers at those plants we have they care about the profits from the high prices cars that we will no longer buy from them . They won’t be able to compete and when people start driving them and seeing them they won’t be able to keep them on the lot because everyone will want them they just don’t know yet how great they are
Very good & timely decision by Canada. Do not give Trumps US & Musk a free hand in dominating the market & look wat that got us, di!@#$ad Trump trying to grab our country & any other he fancies
I’m looking to buy a new car in the next year or so. I’m excited to see what BYD and other Chinese EV companies will bring here.
Unfortunately, the price of cars has shot up over the last few years, and car manufacturers have not been incentivized to release lower-cost options. This has driven up costs in the used market.
And thanks to Trump, along with his MAGA-isolationist followers, car manufacturers are moving their jobs and their plants to the US where there’s a bigger market. There’s very little incentive for Canada to keep BYD and other Chinese EVs out anymore. I guess it’s one of the few good things to come out of a Trump administration, at least for a Canadian consumer.
Hopefully, this makes other car manufacturers step it up with being more price competitive. I’ve got zero interest in a Tesla, but I’m open to buying from other brands if they can reduce their prices.
This will bring out a discussion to terminate Canada’s involvement within the Five Eyes. We stopped Huawei from selling their network equipment and cellular phones do to security issues and now we open our doors to allow them to dump their cars here.
Time will tell how this will work out. I feel it is more of a shortsighted, knee-jerk response because PM failed in his campaign promise saying, he is the only who could deal with Trump and the USA. Seems he lied…
Can’t wait to drive a BYD ! Ready to move away from my current Japanese and Korean SUVs