Tesmanian reported that Tesla acquired a former Trust Ford sales site in Ireland. It’s located in the UK Parliamentary Constituency of Belfast South and this information comes from documents that Tesla submitted to the Belfast City Council. Tesla, according to the documents, plans to turn the site into a sales and service center. A quick look at Tesla’s website shows that the Belfast center is “coming soon.”
This approach, noted by Tesmanian, is similar to the ones in China. Tesla is building multipurpose sales centers in 45 different cities across China to expand its reach. Now, it’s starting in Europe, with the United Kingdom. These integrated Experience Centers have a mix of vehicle displays, sales, after-sales, services and there is a possibility that they will handle test drives as well.
The New Belfast Store
The new Tesla store is located on Boucher Road in Belfast and Tesla has already hired staff to operate the center. Tesla’s Construction Manager for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Lois Sajtos, has submitted three planning applications to the Belfast City Council already and one has received approval. Tesla was given the go-ahead to install two containers at the back of the building and these containers will store a forklift and batteries.
The city’s planning officials are still debating the other applications, one of which depicts the placement of a new Tesla sign at the front of the building. The Tesla sign will be neon red and six meters. There will also be flags and large Tesla lettering added to the site The Irish News reported that Ford closed its dealership on Boucher Road back in February and that the site’s owner, Osborne King, placed the two-story, 8195 square foot building for rent at £100,000, annually.
Tesla also has a service center in Dublin, ten in Britain, and is planning to double that number. Belfast will be joining that list of active sites. The Irish News also reported that there are around 2,000 electric vehicles “on the road in the north.” There are also around 337 public chargers for EVs in Ireland, known as the ecar network which is owned and operated by the ESB group.
“Tesla is the global brand leader in electric cars”
-Jaime Delargy
The Belfast Telegraph first broke the story when they shared that Tesla was recruiting staff for the Belfast service center back in February. Back then, the details of the new location weren’t available, but Jaime Delargy, a business commentator noted that this latest development could be a major step forward to seeing more EVs in Belfast.
“There is no doubt Tesla is the global brand leader in electric cars,” he said. Other things that were noted in The Belfast Telegraph article back in February were that the interest in Tesla and its products is “almost of a passionate intensity.” In Northern Ireland, there are almost 3,000 “ultra low emission vehicles. Just how many of those are Teslas is not clear. But what’s certain is that a service center to provide parts and repairs is essential if Tesla is to attract a big number of buyers.”
Unstoppable
Tesla is continuing to prove itself unstoppable as it slowly takes over the world and revolutionizes the auto industry. Having recently released its 2020 Q2 numbers, Tesla produced over 82,000 vehicles and delivered around 90,650 vehicles. These numbers were completely unexpected (by critics, talking heads, and blue-checked Twitter analysts).
Tesla had several of its factories closed down due to the coronavirus, and faced opposition in California when the local government sought to keep it shut down while allowing other manufacturers to reopen, yet still, beat the odds. Tesla’s Fremont factory was shut down during most of the second quarter but has successfully ramped its production back to its previously high levels.
Tesla plans to announce its net income and cash flow results during the Q2 earnings report. Even though Tesla sees its delivery count as “slightly conservative,” you really do have to take into consideration the insane challenges that 2020 threw at Tesla and the entire world.
It should be noted that Tesla really came through not just for its customers and shareholders, but Tesla actively helped to save lives by using the Fremont factory to produce ventilators during the shortage back in March and April. GM and Ford also helped during the crisis–even Exxon stopped producing chemicals and oil and switched to making hand sanitizer for Louisiana first responders.
It’s really beautiful how the world came together to help save lives–2020 was a really big challenge for many companies and businesses. While many predicted Tesla’s failure, Tesla proved them all wrong with its continued success.