Tesla Jumps Into South Korea & South Africa

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Originally published on EV Obsession.

Tesla Motors will be opening up a new office in the Gangnam district of Seoul, Korea, following the recent filing of incorporation papers with the government there, according to a recent report from the Korea Times. The creation of the “new” company — Tesla Korea Limited — was announced publicly by the Korea Supreme Court back on December 19th.

Tesla will also be opening an office in South Africa sometime in January, reportedly — with the focus in that market being primarily energy storage offerings, rather than electric vehicles (EVs).

Electric Car Tipping Point (For Domination) Within 10 Years, Tesla CTO JB Straubel Predicts (Video)With regard to the new Korean office, Tesla CTO JB Straubel noted back in November that the company considers the market to be one with a lot of potential, though no firm dates have been revealed for future product releases there.

Teslarati provides more:

The original officers for Tesla Korea Limited are Todd Maron, currently general counsel at Tesla Motors, and Susan Repo, director at Tesla Financial Services.

…Charging infrastructure, or rather the lack of it, is a major concern in Korea. Tesla would need to embark on a major campaign to construct Supercharger locations within the country or partner with local providers, as it has done in China.

In an interview with Korea Times, an automotive engineering professor at Daelim University by the name of Kim Pil-soo commented positively on the development: “Tesla has both premium and low-cost product lines. Its quality is one of the highest in the electric vehicle market. At a time when local customers are increasingly fond of imported vehicles, if Tesla cars hit local showrooms, its repercussion on the local automotive market will not be small.”


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James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

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