Copyright © HT Media Limited
All rights reserved.
Tesla Inc.’s expansion on the home turf of Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG and BMW AG is gathering pace.
The company announced a plan to open its largest service center in Germany as it scales up Model 3 deliveries across Europe. That came just weeks after Tesla unveiled a plan to build a factory near Berlin.
The site of the new service center south of Hanover, about an hour’s drive from VW’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, covers 3,000 square meters (32,290 square feet), Tesla said Monday. The company has moved local staff from a previous location in downtown Hanover and will also recruit more people.
Tesla’s sales expansion in Europe had been overshadowed by complaints about poor quality and customer service in Germany. Europe’s largest economy recently embarked on a fresh government-backed push to promote a shift toward electric cars after previous efforts fells short of expectations.
Success in Germany is critical to Tesla’s global expansion strategy. The U.S. manufacturer will construct a plant near Berlin after completing a gigafactory in Shanghai to boost its presence in China, the world’s largest electric-car market.