No, BYD Didn't Announce a $25,000 Seagull for Canada — Here's What's Actually Confirmed

If you've spent any time in Canadian EV groups this week, you've seen the screenshot: BYD executive Stella Li "confirming" a late-2026 Canadian launch, a phased rollout, 20 dealerships, and — the part that made everyone sit up — a Seagull starting at C$25,000.

I wanted it to be true. A $25,000 EV with real range would change the math for a lot of Canadian households, and I've been saying for months that the Seagull-class cars are the ones that matter for this market.

But it isn't true. Not yet, anyway. Here's what actually happened.

The "announcement" came from a fake account

The launch phases, the dealership timeline, and the C$25,000 Seagull price were all attributed to a post from Stella Li, BYD's executive vice-president. That account has since been identified as an imposter. The Deep Dive, which ran the story, has retracted those specifics and now states plainly that the figures were fabricated.

The fake spread anyway — partly because it was plausible, and partly because several sites repeated it as confirmed fact without checking. Some still haven't corrected it. That's worth remembering next time a "confirmed pricing" headline crosses your feed.

What's actually confirmed (with sources)

Strip away the fabricated parts and BYD's real Canadian position still looks serious. This is what's verified by multiple independent outlets:

• Roughly 20 dealerships targeted in year one (confirmed) — reported by The Globe and Mail and Bloomberg, and corroborated by Protégez-Vous and Electrek.
• Greater Toronto Area first (confirmed) — three potential GTA locations were already under discussion in March, with expansion planned to Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary afterward.
• A real dealer-network search is underway (confirmed) — BYD has hired Markham-based Dealer Solutions Mergers & Acquisitions to identify locations.
• The regulatory path is clear (confirmed) — Canada's market officially opened to Chinese-made EVs on March 1, 2026, under the deal announced in January: 49,000 vehicles per year at a 6.1% tariff, rising to 70,000 by 2030, per CBC. BYD is the only Chinese EV maker that already holds Transport Canada compliance clearance, thanks to its earlier taxi and bus applications.

That last point matters more than any rumour: BYD has a regulatory head start no other Chinese brand has.

What's NOT confirmed

• A launch date. "Late 2026" appears in headlines, not in any BYD announcement. As recently as mid-April, La Presse reported BYD was still actively assembling its distribution network with no confirmed timing.
• Any Canadian price, for any model. The $25,000 figure is fabricated. Analysts expect BYD to lead with sub-$35,000 models like the Atto 3 or Dolphin because the trade deal favours that price bracket (estimated) — but that's inference, not an announcement.
• Which models come first. Seagull, Dolphin, Atto 3, Seal — all plausible, none announced.

How we'll cover this going forward

A site you trust on Chinese EVs has to be the site that tells you when something isn't known. So here's our standing rule, on every price you'll ever read here: it's labelled confirmed (manufacturer or dealer source, linked) or estimated (our reasoning, shown). No naked numbers presented as official. If a figure can't carry one of those two labels, we don't publish it.

And on BYD specifically: we won't report a Canadian launch date or price until it's corroborated by at least two independent, non-social-media sources. The imposter incident is exactly why.

My take

If you're holding off on an EV purchase waiting for the $25,000 BYD — I get it, but don't plan your driveway around a fabricated tweet. The honest picture: BYD is coming, Toronto first, with Montreal in the second wave, and the smart money says the first cars land in the high-$20s to low-$30s (estimated). If that's your budget and your timeline is flexible, waiting is reasonable. If you need a car this year, the MG4 and other value EVs already here deserve your attention now.

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