Tesla is expanding its electric vehicle business in Turkey, a market that has demanded Tesla’s services for years now.
Despite the fact that Tesla is not indirectly in Turkey, many Tesla owners in the country have gone to the trouble of importing the electric vehicles themselves and operating them without access to services.
For years they have been asking Tesla to expand into the country with stores and service centers.
In May 2018, CEO Elon Musk finally said that Tesla planned to launch in Turkey later that year. However, the plan was reportedly scrapped later in 2018 amid an escalating pricing war.
Now, four years later, Electrek has learned that Tesla is finally launching in Turkey.
Before a launch in a new market, Tesla usually does two things: plan the deployment of Supercharger stations and build a service network.
Tesla has already shared plans to build a network of superchargers in the country since 2020, and the map still shows upcoming supercharger stations.
But now Electrek has found that Tesla listed the first job openings in Turkey, and they’re all for service workers in Istanbul.
Specifically, the jobs will be based in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, meaning it will likely be the location of Tesla’s first service center in Turkey.
Turkey is a country of 85 million people and has a large automotive market, with over half a million passenger car sales so far in 2022.
However, the electric vehicle market is still small in the country, but Tesla has developed a charging network and finally provided support to local owners should help it grow.
Electrek’s Grasp
With the process for hiring service personnel now in place, I expect Tesla to start taking orders in Turkey in the coming months, with the first deliveries expected in 2023.
But while these will be the first direct deliveries to the country, there are apparently already hundreds (if not thousands) of Tesla owners in Turkey.
It will also benefit them as they will be able to access Tesla’s service locally instead of having to rely on other countries’ infrastructure.
.