One of the biggest carmakers on earth is opening showrooms a short drive north of the U.S. border. Geely said Friday it plans to start selling cars to Canadians in 2027. It sold more than three million vehicles last year. For American buyers, those lots are close and out of reach. On the same page of the Journal, Porsche reported it sold 16% fewer cars in the first nine months of the year. Two car stories, one lesson. The price of a car depends on what's allowed on the lot as much as on the sticker.
Ryan Felton reports that Geely has started building a dealer and service network in Canada. Bryan Wu, its managing director there, called Canada an important next step in the company's growth abroad. Geely hasn't named the models or the prices yet. Its brands include Geely, Zeekr and Lynk & Co. Its parent company also controls Volvo, Polestar and Lotus. Canada opened the door this year. It cut its tariff sharply on up to 49,000 Chinese EVs. By the end of the decade, at least half of those imports must carry a price of C$35,000. That's about US$24,500. Canada says the deal equals less than 3% of its new-car sales.
The U.S. went the other way. High tariffs and a ban on some connected-car software have kept China's EVs out. Congress is debating a bill to bar Chinese car companies from selling or even building cars here. The president has said he opposes Chinese car imports and welcomes Chinese carmakers building in the U.S. We report the positions. We don't take a side. Polestar is already barred under the software rule. Volvo got approval to keep operating.
Porsche sold fewer cars everywhere, and more 911s
Porsche delivered 178,532 cars from January through September, down 16% from 212,509 a year earlier, Dominic Chopping reports. Every region fell. North America, its biggest market, dropped 13% to 56,088. China fell 33% to 21,493. Europe outside Germany was down 11%, and Germany down 7%. The paper cites a tough Chinese market, the end of the gas-powered 718 line and strong sales of the electric Macan in the same months last year. The 911 went the other way. Its deliveries rose 12%, and the pricier GTS, Turbo and GT versions again made up a large share of sales. Porsche says it's sticking to value over volume.
Our read
This is Cash Flow (M5), the price of a car. Two things set what you pay. The sticker, and the rules about what can sit on the lot. Canada just pointed half its Chinese EV imports toward about US$24,500. The U.S. chose to keep those cars out. Neither choice is ours to grade. A household plans around the prices it can actually get, and the financing too. Bankrate's latest average for a 48-month new-car loan is 7.04%. Porsche's nine months tell the other half. Its signature 911 grew 12% while total deliveries fell 16%. Pricing power sits with what's hard to get. For a family budget, a car is a cost that falls in value every year. The boring, well-priced one wins the math.
Neither Geely nor Porsche is in our model books, so there's nothing to hold or add. The planning move is to size the car payment before the test drive. Decide the number you can carry at 7% and shop under it. You buy the umbrella before the clouds roll in. Bring the car plan to the next review.