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Tesla will ship its cars to new locations in Europe. Reportedly, the company is also looking at a factory site in Germany. Recently, a German car rental company canceled it’s Model 3 order due to service quality issues.
Tesla focuses on Europe
On August 23, Tesla (TSLA) tweeted that its Model 3 cars will be available in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Slovenia. The company will offer its Model X and Model S cars in these markets. While Model 3 sales have been growing at a fast pace, Model X and Model S sales have sagged. However, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, doesn’t think that the sales are a problem. Recently, Tesla brought back free unlimited Supercharging for new Model X and Model S cars. The competition has been intensifying in the electric vehicle space. Jaguar and Audi are trying to position their products in the luxury electric car segment. Porsche has the Taycan in the segment. However, Jaguar and Audi haven’t been able to dent Tesla’s dominance in the US electric vehicle market.
In August, Tesla launched its Model 3 in South Korea. So far, Model 3 has attracted a lot of attention. The company also tweeted pictures of long lines of people waiting to look at the car.
Germany plant
Tesla has been in Europe for almost six years. Europe is among the company’s biggest markets. Notably, electric vehicle adoption has been higher in Europe compared to the US. Reportedly, Tesla is looking at a factory location in Germany. Currently, the company produces its cars at the US facility. However, as sales expand overseas, the company is also looking at international locations. The company is building a Gigafactory in China.
Tesla’s service quality issues
Earlier in August, Nextmove canceled its order for 85 Model 3 cars. While the company liked the car, it wasn’t happy with Tesla’s service quality. Several Tesla car buyers haven’t been happy with the company’s service quality. While car deliveries have grown at a rapid pace, the service infrastructure has lagged. Electric cars require less maintenance compared to cars with internal combustion engines. However, the company has lagged on post-sales services.
Dealer network
Tesla lacks an extensive dealer network like established automakers. While the company can update the software through over-the-air updates, a car is mainly hardware. As the car fleet ages, the company might have to look at alternatives to provide post-sales services. The company has faced service issues in the solar panel business. Recently, Walmart sued Tesla due to seven fire incidents related to solar panels.