Source: energynow
Date: Jul 18, 2026
Our EV sales in Alberta alone are up 50 per cent,’ says Jack Uppal, GM Canada’s president
“Our EV sales in Alberta alone are up 50 per cent,” Jack Uppal, GM Canada’s president, said in an interview.
For the whole of Western Canada, sales are up 30 per cent for the first six months of this year, compared to 2025.
According to Uppal, the launch of GM’s new Chevrolet Bolt electric model and the reintroduction of federal government incentives doubled finance applications for EVs at the company’s dealerships across the country.
High gas prices are also leading to more interest in electric models overall, he said.
Uppal, who took the wheel at GM Canada in February, has been with the carmaker for 26 years. He’s held various roles, most recently as president for GM in Africa and the Middle East. He also spent several years living and working in Calgary as the brand’s western director of sales.
Uppal donned his cowboy hat, boots and ornately-bucked belt for a few days in Alberta to take part in the Calgary Stampede, which the carmaker has sponsored for decades.
Following his time out west, Uppal spoke with the Calgary Herald’s Steven Wilhelm about GM’s EV sales and what the introduction of Chinese EVs to the Canadian market means for consumers and manufacturers alike.
Wilhelm: How has the crisis at the Strait of Hormuz changed Canadians’ buying behaviour?
Uppal: Gas prices, they definitely impact the customer. Affordability is at the top of consumers’ minds . . .
What we saw was, from a consumer behaviour perspective, the reintroduction of the consumer EV credit when the federal government (released) its new auto policy. I would say that was a bigger driver of consumer behaviour towards EVs than gas prices.
In a three- to four-month heightened level of gas prices, what we’re seeing is . . . individuals that were in market for a product, and perhaps not necessarily for an EV, but kind of on the fence, we’re seeing a lot of those consumers definitely moving over clearly (to) the EV side.
Now, if this conflict — unpredictable as it is — continues for an extended period, we could see a slightly stronger shift towards EVs.
Wilhelm: In terms of interest, have you guys seen more website traffic leaning towards EVs than in prior years, more inquiries at dealerships or EV orders?
Uppal: All of the above. Our EV sales in Alberta alone are up 50 per cent, and usually, we work it from a funnel perspective, which is how many inquiries did we get in the store or online? How many people did a test drive? How many people filled out a finance application, and how many bought? So, if 50 per cent more people ended up buying EVs, I can tell you that every number above it, up to the leads, was up in the double digits.
In Alberta, in the first month after we launched the (Chevrolet) Bolt, and the government EV program, which applied to the Bolt, came online, we saw almost a three-times increase in website visits, and almost a double increase in the number of finance applications.
Wilhelm: Last year, EV sales were falling sharply, and it seems like in the first quarter of this year the momentum has shifted in the other direction. Do you see the latest growth as a structural recovery in EV demand, or mainly a rebound following the return of federal incentives?
Uppal: I mean, in 2025, I would say we kind of plateaued out.
I’ll kind of maybe share a little bit of a personal opinion on this. What I’ve experienced in markets that have much higher penetration of alternative propulsion, primarily EVs, is that three elements in the market have to work collectively.
First, the (manufacturer) has one of the biggest responsibilities, where you need to make sure you’ve got the right choices for the customer. The second thing that’s very critical is that there needs to be some sort of government subsidy to drive adaptation.
The third critical element of adaptation is that you also need to continuously develop, modify and accelerate the growth of the infrastructure to charge those vehicles. And then you close that journey by ensuring that the consumer gets an understanding of all three of those pillars and (learns) about EVs and how they work.
When all of these components are available, we’ve seen adaptation follow a good curve.
It’s a little bit early to say if it’s just a rebound from 2025 to 2026, but what I can say is that there are all three components, from what I know from my experience, that are available for the consumer, which I believe will be a much more stable ride in (adoption) growing.
Wilhelm: China got permission to sell some of its EVs in the Canadian market. Give me a sense of what GM can learn from Chinese EVs, because as we’ve seen, China has a much larger uptake in EVs overall. Also, describe GM’s position on Chinese EVs being allowed into the Canadian market.
Uppal: The Chinese market is where it is, and with my experience in China — for over a decade, they’ve consistently educated the customer, have product availability, had subsidies available for consumers to adapt these EVs and continue to invest in infrastructure.
What we found, even in Europe and some other places, is that when those elements come together, the customer who is provided the right choice, you will win. And I believe today we (GM) have the broadest choice.
On their coming to Canada, from GM’s perspective as a manufacturer and a market leader, I truly philosophically believe that competition is really, really good. We welcome competition because it allows everybody to get better and it allows you to earn your customers’ business.
Now, to do that, we would also want to ensure that everybody’s working off a level playing field, and that’s what we’ve been consistently saying. But I think having competitors in the marketplace at the end of the day makes everybody better, and the customer wins in the end.
