Editor’s Note: Unfortunetly, not many details are out yet regarding where these 30 new service centers and stores will be, but word is that Sweden, Italy, and France will get their first ones. Few details were revealed regarding the Superchargers as well. However, Elon Musk stated: “By the end of this year, we expect you will be able to travel almost anywhere in Europe using only Superchargers.”
Notably, international sales are not a side play, according to Tesla. “By the end of 2014, Tesla expects combined sales in Europe and Asia to be almost twice as high as sales in North America,” a Tesla statement added. The statement also brought attention to some European awards the Model S has won. “In 2013, Model S was named Car of the Year in Sweden and Norway, Most Stylish Car in Switzerland, and it won the Car of the Year Prize of Honor in Denmark.”
Everything at Tesla seems to be full steam ahead, and its European front is no exception. Recently at the Geneva Motor Show it announced that it will open over 30 new service centers and stores throughout the continent.
Elon Musk noted that they want their Tesla customers to be supported by Superchargers wherever they are in Europe, “By the end of this year, we expect you will be able to travel almost anywhere in Europe using only Superchargers.” So, in about ten months, Tesla may have installed enough Superchargers that you could drive a Model S all over Europe and not run out of electricity. That’s an ambitious goal, but Tesla seems to be hitting all its marks, so it just may come to be. If you are skeptical that they can do this at all, consider that the Model S has already been driven across the United States using their Supercharger network there.
The total number of Model S’s delivered to customers has already passed 25,000. In 2013,Tesla is estimated to have delivered nearly 4,000 of its award-winning sedans to Europe. The Model S in Europe is being assembled in the Netherlands and this country also functions as a regional customer service outlet.
Norway was one of their first target markets, due in part to the fact that there was a tax break of about $134,000 for Norwegian Model S buyers. Focusing on Norway has proven to be a smart strategy, because a very large tax break is not the only consumer incentive, electric car owners get access to bus lanes, free transport on ferries (common there), a lower annual car tax, and more.
Tesla’s plan to make the European continent drivable for customers sounds like a very good way to build relationships with prospective customers as well. If you can drive many hundreds of miles in a very well-designed, quiet, eco-friendly, comfortable vehicle touring various countries, one would imagine the European Model S drivers will probably have their own road rallies too.
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/03/08/tesla-announces-plans-install-30-services-centers-stores-around-europe-superchargers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29
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