Vancouver International Auto Show removes Tesla over safety concerns

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 18, 2025 7:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

The Vancouver International Auto Show has removed U.S. electrical carmaker Tesla from its lawsuit this week, saying its superior interest was the information of attendees and exhibitors.

Tesla has faced galore protests successful Canada precocious owed to proprietor Elon Musk's proximity to U.S. President Donald Trump, astatine a clip erstwhile Trump has imposed 25 per cent tariffs connected Canadian imports and publically made threats of annexation towards the country.

The car shaper has seen protests astatine its dealerships, and its products person been excluded from B.C.'s electrical conveyance rebate programs amid the commercialized warfare with the U.S.

The latest improvement comes with the yearly Vancouver International Auto Show deciding to exclude Tesla aft the carmaker was fixed aggregate opportunities to retreat voluntarily, according to a connection from the show's enforcement director.

"The Vancouver Auto Show's superior interest is the information of attendees, exhibitors, and staff," enforcement manager Eric Nicholl said. "This determination volition guarantee each attendees tin beryllium solely focused connected enjoying the galore affirmative elements of the event."

Nicholl is expected to supply an update connected Tesla's removal from the expo astatine 5:30 p.m. PT. He did not elaborate connected what the information concerns were that led to Tesla's removal.

WATCH | B.C. removes Tesla products from rebate programs: 

The car amusement is held each twelvemonth astatine the Vancouver Convention Centre, and its website says it attracts implicit 100,000 attendees. It is operated by the New Car Dealers Association of B.C.

Musk, Tesla's CEO, is simply a adjacent confidant of Trump successful his relation arsenic the caput of the Department of Government Efficiency, which has implemented sweeping cuts to that country's civilian service.

The billionaire is a self-described "free code absolutist" who has faced disapproval from hate-speech watchdogs for allowing extremist, unsafe and antisemitic comments to flourish connected X, the societal media level that helium owns.

More to come.