It was the first store it ever opened in China, back in 2013.
Tesla has closed what had come to be known as its flagship store in China, located on two floors in an upscale downtown Beijing mall. It was Tesla’s first showroom opened in China and it operated for nine years before being closed down in October as the manufacturer reevaluates its sales strategy in the country.
According to Automotive News, Tesla’s Chinese arm officially confirmed the store’s closure took place last month and that it looked to shift focus more towards placing its stores in suburban areas. The old two-floor showroom was replaced with a smaller location in another mall called Parkview Green, which is the main landmark in Chaowai, a residential district of Beijing.
The manufacturer currently operates over 200 showrooms across China, and there’s actually an older report from mid-September which announces that the ones in flashy locations would go under review and possibly be closed down. Tesla still wants to have some locations downtown, but it wants to have the bulk of its showrooms around cities.
Another reason for the move would be to have more of these locations offer maintenance service. Because land prices are very high in major Chinese city centers, it is often uneconomical to have both a showroom and a service center in a downtown location, so moving to the suburbs where land is cheaper will allow Tesla to expand on this – currently only around half of all Tesla locations in China also offer service support.
Tesla recently cut prices for the cars it sells in China by up tp 9 percent as it was able to lower the overhead costs of its operations in the country. It also upgraded the Shanghai Gigafactory at the start of Q3 2022 and it reported record delivery numbers in the quarter, dropping the delivery time from 22 weeks to between one and four.
Source: Automotive News
Keyword: Tesla China Closes Flagship Store In Beijing