BYD has expanded its North American operations with the opening of its first bus assembly plant in Canada. The 45,000-square-foot facility in Newmarket is the first new electric bus plant to open in Ontario in a generation.

While the Newmarket facility is BYD’s first Canadian assembly plant, the company is already active in the Canadian market with buses on order (or in operation) in Toronto, Victoria, Longeuil, St. Albert and Grand Prairie. The new plant will first focus on assemblying buses for the Toronto Transit Commission, the country’s largest transit operator. The agency will receive ten pure electric buses with an option for 30 more.

As traditional auto manufacturing is withdrawing from Canada, municipalities across the country are re-doubling their efforts to tackle climate change through zero-emissions transit. BYD is well-positioned to replicate in Canada the kind of rapid growth we’ve seen in places like Lancaster, California—a plant which started with about 100 workers in 2013, and now employs more than 750. Together with our partners in York Region and the town of Newmarket we’re going to put Canada on the map as a North American leader in Electric Bus assembly.

—Ted Dowling, Vice President, BYD Canada