I would love to see some details on the demographics involved. The MSRP cap on the $5k rebate undoubtedly impacted the Tesla sales numbers this year, as did the Model 3 announcement. I suspect many people who might have stretched into an S or even an X with a rebate, decided instead to hang on for the Model 3.
What the provincial government forgets is that each Tesla sale that doesn’t happen, means less luxury tax. If they really wanted BEV’s on the road, the cap would be gone. Anyone with basic arithmetic skills will be able to deduce that selling a $35,000 Leaf with no luxury tax and a $5k rebate is more expensive to the government (PST – rebate = -$2,500) than the sale of a $105,000 Model S, with luxury tax… even with a $5k rebate (LuxuryPST – rebate = +$5,500). That is, each Leaf costs the taxpayer $2,500, but the sale of a Tesla represents a $5,500 payment TO government. The rebate could actually be seen as the lure to collect more luxury tax and thus a means to subsidize the rebate program for inexpensive models.
