China is currently Tesla’s second-largest market, and the automaker could be looking to make major changes to its strategy in the country following COVID-19 restrictions earlier this year.
Tesla is reconsidering its retail strategy in China as it weighs the possibility of closing showrooms in larger cities, according to two sources familiar with the company’s plans, Reuters reports. Expensive Tesla stores in some bigger cities such as Beijing may be on the chopping block, after traffic plunged due to COVID-19.
The updated plans reportedly include emphasizing more affordable showrooms in suburban areas which can double as service centers as many customers face long service delays.
Additionally, Tesla hopes to hire more technicians and general service staff, according to one of the sources. On Tesla’s recruiting website, the automaker listed over 300 positions for service jobs, as seen on Thursday.
Tesla Deliveries Triple in China After Giga Shanghai Upgrades https://t.co/0G0Gu2UfQK
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“It’s not necessary to open showrooms in expensive shopping malls, especially when the repair business has become lucrative,” said Yale Zhang, Managing Director at Shanghai’s Automotive Foresight.
“It makes better sense to keep only one or two showrooms downtown to keep the brand positioning but move more to suburbs.”
In a recent post on Twitter, Musk called “advancing Tesla service to make it awesome” a task he was putting time and energy into personally.
The note came in response to Musk siding with a Tesla owner whose appointment was postponed within 24 hours of when it was scheduled to take place — after he had waited over a month to have his vehicle fixed.
