Tesla Says Retail Strategy in China Still Expanding at Normal Pace
Following reports claiming changes to Tesla’s retail strategy in China, the automaker has clarified that some of its city center locations will remain open as planned.
Tesla said on Monday that it still plans to expand sales in China at a normal place, contradicting a report last week saying the automaker was closing more expensive city center sales locations, in response to Reuters, who made the claim.
The initial reports were shared last Thursday, saying Tesla would close some showrooms in Beijing and other busy cities after traffic declined significantly during COVID-19 restrictions.
Instead, the report alleged, Tesla would open showrooms at retail and service locations in suburban cities, where it would be less costly to do so.
Tesla China Denies Rumors of 4680 Batteries in Cars from Giga Shanghai https://t.co/hpaZNz2zHL
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) August 23, 2022
The news comes after production upgrades to Gigafactory Shanghai helped Tesla triple deliveries in August.
In addition to the delivery increase, Tesla’s Giga Shanghai production upgrade also helped the automaker reduce wait times on all its models and trims, with them all now showing a minimum potential delivery time of just one week.
Giga Shanghai shut down in July and early August to have the upgrades installed, leading to low delivery figures in July. In August, heatwaves blasted the Sichuan region of China, causing instability for some of Tesla’s suppliers in the area.