For a while now, Tesla enthusiasts and owners who have imported vehicles for themselves, have requested Tesla Motors to have an official presence in the region and now the electric car manufacturer have confirmed that they will be opening a showroom and service centre in the UAE, this February.
It begins with a launch event at the Armani hotel in the Burj Khalifa tower – the tallest building on earth – located in Dubai on February 13th, 2017, where CEO Elon Musk is expected to make an appearance, after attending the fifth edition of the World Government Summit (WGS 2017) the day before.
The automaker also started listing new manager and technician jobs for a service center in Dubai on its official website.
Previous, Tesla ownership in the region hasn’t been the easiest. The company could arrange for Tesla technicians to fly down from Europe as a special ‘Tesla Ranger’ service if they need to. Besides service related issues, charging has also been burdensome, due to the lack of sufficient number of charging stations; and due to different charging standards across the region. When Tesla Motors arrives, it is expected to setup appropriate charging solutions and perhaps, deploys their own Supercharger network. Currently, there are some Supercharger stations in Jordan, but they have not been disclosed on the Tesla website map because they seem to be operated privately at gas stations owned by the Manaseer Group.
In 2016, Tesla owners in the GCC region held an annual meeting and pleaded both Elon Musk and Tesla Motors for more service in the region, and this could very well be a consequence of the effort.
The UAE is only one of many new markets in which Tesla Motors plans to expand in 2017 ahead of the launch of the Model 3. Tesla was also recently launched in Portugal, Taiwan, South Korea and New Zealand.
Tesla’s current line-up consists of the 3 main models the Model S sedan, Model X SUV and the more affordable Model 3. The Model S has 7 different variants based on output including 60, 60D, 75, 75D, 90D, 100D & the P100D – which is capable of hitting 60 mph from a standstill in 2.5 seconds.
Source: https://electrek.co/2017/02/04/tesla-united-arab-emirates-elon-musk-dubai/
