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Tesla Inc plans to double the number of repair and maintenance shops, add about 100 charging stations and revamp showrooms in China as the electric vehicle maker gears up to open its Shanghai plant.
The moves mark a departure from the approach chief executive Elon Musk announced in March, when he said the company would shut many of its retail stores worldwide to cut costs.
Tesla had already treated China, the world’s biggest electric vehicle market, differently than elsewhere. The company and Musk openly disdain marketing, but in China Tesla has offered racing events and showroom parties.
“Building cars from the Shanghai factory is just the first step,” Tesla vice president Tao Lin said at an industry conference last month in Beijing. “Next we must deliver cars very well to our customers and provide very good after-sales service.
Tesla plans to turn some of its showrooms in China into one-stop shops called “Tesla Centers” that also serve as delivery sites and offer maintenance support, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the rollout would start in Shanghai and Guangzhou.
In coming months, the company also plans to double its service centers to 63 from 29 and boost fast charging stations by 39 percent to 362, according to Tesla planning documents seen by Reuters.
“Expanding the service network is very important to boost customer confidence,” Tesla China general manager Wang Hao told Reuters, adding the firm would build more charging stations in China next year at a “faster pace.”
“There is growing sales potential from more inland cities, and a need to prepare for growing repair and maintenance demands to avoid complaints,” one of the sources said.
Tesla, most of whose service centers are in China’s coastal regions and big provincial capitals, will open new ones in the northwestern city of Urumqi, southwestern city of Kunming and “Ice City” Harbin in the north, the documents showed.
The sources cautioned that plans might change depending on the circumstances.
(TDS)
