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).
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.”