"South Korea Moves Differently"... Why Tesla Is Making a Bold Bet on Korea [EuratCarCar]

Tesla Opens Nowon Center: "Expanding into Northern Seoul"
Continuous Expansion of Service Centers, Charging Stations, and Showrooms
Launch of Standard Model... Lower Prices Announced

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Tesla Korea is making a concerted effort to increase domestic sales by not only implementing an aggressive pricing strategy but also continuously expanding its service centers and showrooms.

Tesla Korea opened a new store in Incheon at the end of December last year, securing a total of eight showrooms, and plans to expand its offline stores and service centers to about twice the current size by 2027. Photo by AFP Yonhap News

According to the automotive industry on January 31, Tesla Korea recently opened a new service center in Nowon-gu, Seoul. With this addition, a total of 16 Tesla service centers are now operating nationwide. Notably, there had previously been no dedicated service center in the northern part of Seoul, so this move is expected to significantly improve accessibility and convenience for Tesla owners in that area.

In addition to service centers, Tesla Korea is rapidly expanding its customer touchpoints, including showrooms and its exclusive charging network. At the end of December last year, the company opened a new store in Incheon, bringing the total number of showrooms to eight. Tesla Korea plans to double the number of offline stores and service centers by 2027 compared to current levels.

The company is also strengthening its exclusive electric vehicle charging infrastructure, known as Superchargers. Currently, there are over 1,100 Superchargers installed nationwide, with an operational rate of 99.5%. Tesla Korea is identifying demand through user surveys and continuously expanding its network. At the same time, it plans to accelerate the introduction of V4 Superchargers, which offer faster charging speeds than the existing V3 models.

Tesla Korea's recent moves come amid a crisis in which global sales, including in China, have been steadily declining. The company appears to be aiming to offset sluggish global performance with an aggressive strategy in Korea, further solidifying its influence in the domestic market.

In fact, since 2024, Tesla has experienced negative global sales growth for two consecutive years, losing its position as the world's top electric vehicle manufacturer to China's BYD. In contrast, the company has achieved remarkable results in Korea, more than doubling its sales during the same period. Tesla Korea sold 29,750 units domestically in 2024, and last year recorded 59,916 units, nearly reaching 60,000.

This upward trend is likely to continue this year. The launch of the Model 3 Standard, which can be purchased for as low as 39 million won after subsidies, along with continued aggressive discounts on the Long Range rear-wheel drive and Performance models, are key factors.

In addition, the recent introduction of the "Supervised FSD (Full Self-Driving)" service for select models has heightened expectations among owners that the service will soon be expanded to all models.

Hangoo Lee, a research fellow at the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, analyzed, "While global demand is slowing, demand in Korea is actually increasing, so expanding the domestic sales network is a natural step. The price competitiveness enabled by low labor costs at the Chinese factory and the mass production capabilities of the Gigafactory are the core drivers behind Tesla's aggressive strategy."