Tesla has reportedly pulled the handbrake on a plan to expand into Turkey with stores and service centres due to new trade war tariffs, electrek reported on October 31.
The news site cited Ahval which relayed a report in Turkey’s Dunya newspaper outlining how the US electric car company would no longer be opening a store in İstanbul’s Zorlu shopping centre.
Although Tesla is not officially in Turkey, industry observers say there are many Tesla owners in the country who went to the trouble of importing the electric vehicles themselves and operate them without access to services.
For years now, they are said to have been asking Tesla to expand into Turkey with stores and servicing facilities.
Back in May, CEO Elon Musk said Tesla planned to launch in Turkey later in the year.
New orders for Tesla cars have come to a halt, Dunya reported general manager of luxury car sales market leader S&S Motors, Ferhat Albayrak, as saying.
“There is still not demand for Tesla, in light of additional customs tax,” Albayrak reportedly said, adding: “It is nearly impossible for a normal consumer to buy Tesla, because now it will not have any service centers here.”
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