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Tesla Will Open New Stores in China

If you want to buy a Tesla Model S in China, good luck with that. At the present moment, availability is limited to Beijing and Shanghai customers, the waiting list is demotivational and the Chinese pay double the money for the Model S compared to U.S. buyers because of freight costs and import duties. However, things will get better availability-wise after we've learned that Tesla will open new stores in the Asian country.
Tesla Model S P85 1 photo
Photo: original photo by autoevolution
If you head on over to Tesla Motors' LinkedIn professional networking page, you'll find out that the Palo Alto-based company is searching for new employees in the Republic of China, not only at its Beijing and Shanghai stores and service centers. In fact, job descriptions reveal that Tesla is looking for fresh workforce in Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Hangzhou. Based on simple arithmetics, that adds up to at least 4 new dealerships.

So why did Tesla choose the aforementioned cities for its next phase of its expansion in China? After a bit of research, we found out that all of them are populous urban conglomerates with higher levels of education compared to the rest of the country. Furthermore, there's a big infrastructure problem with Tesla's Chinese supercharger network. The carmaker operates three major stations in Beijing and Shanghai, while the Supercharger network comprises of 15 stations scattered around shopping malls located in Beijing, Shanghai, Shangrao, Wuhan, Ningbo, Qingdao, Xuzhou, Jinan, Hangzhou and Tianjin.

On a related note, Tesla Motors is looking for a highly skilled legal counsel. Minimum requirements include at least 7 years experience with a top tier Chinese law firm or multinational company as well as excellent academic credentials. The job description informs that: "Tesla China is looking for a legal Counsel to support the growth of Tesla’s operations in China. This is the first hire for our in-house China legal team. This role will support Tesla’s China business through the provision of legal advice across a wide range of topics."

And we're pretty sure about one of those topics Tesla refers to. Remember the customer that smashed the windshield and damaged the hood of his brand new fully kitted Model S luxury electric saloon that's worth $173,000? How about the rest of the angry buyers that have suffered delivery delays because the manufacturer concentrates delivery efforts only to Beijing and Shanghai customers? Yup, what we previously mentioned will most certainly be the Chinese legal counsel's first duties at Tesla Motors.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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