Photo: @JayinShanghai
Tesla closed a store in Beijing which was its first offline store in China, as reported by local media outlet Jiemian on Wednesday (via CnEVPost).
The store was located in Beijing Parkview Green in the city’s Chaoyang district, and the report noted that callers to the store are now being redirected to a nearby Tesla store in Raffles City.
The news has been considered a show of Tesla’s retail strategy by some, seemingly corroborating past reports that the automaker was considering closing some of its expensive showrooms in China. The report noted that the move could help Tesla focus on locations with service centers, which generate considerably more money.
“It’s not necessary to open showrooms in expensive shopping malls, especially when the repair business has become lucrative,” said Automotive Foresight analyst Yale Zhang.
Tesla Model S/X Plaid Roll into China International Import Expo [PICS] https://t.co/y1XpFitglt
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) November 2, 2022
Tesla currently has over 200 stores across China, though under half of them include repair services due to limited space in high-rent locations.
Across Beijing, Tesla has 17 customer-experience stores total and it’s not yet clear if the automaker plans to close more of its high-profile locations.
The Beijing Parkview Green Tesla location was originally opened in 2013, and was later renovated and expanded in 2018.
Tesla delivered almost 72,000 cars in China in October, representing a 14-percent drop from its record sales month in September.
