Tesla has announced expansion plans and the carmaker is set to enter Saudi Arabia in April, according to a post on its website that reads “Tesla Opening in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”. The electric carmaker’s grand entry into Saudi Arabia is set for April 10.
Tesla in the Middle East
While Tesla has been selling cars in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is a new market for the carmaker. This is a big market to tap into as Toyota has about 30 percent market share, followed by Hyundai with 25 percent and other Chinese carmakers with around 10–15 percent market share. Saudi sees an annual car sales of around 7,00,000 units, most of which are SUVs.
Being a big oil producer, EV sales are less and last year, only a few thousand electric vehicles were delivered in Saudi Arabia. This number is expected to grow with the announcement of tax exemptions, subsidies, and the development of EV infrastructure. Tesla will be joining LUCID Motors, which not only sells EVs in Saudi but has also set up a manufacturing plant.
Tesla in other news
Tesla has been in the limelight for various news, mostly regarding the attacks over the last few months. In March, the authorities received 48 cases related to Tesla and the FBI has formed a special task force to investigate all these crimes, calling it ‘Domestic Terrorism’. That said, Tesla is also setting up shop in India, a lucrative EV market. The cars will be sold as direct imports and Tata has signed up to become the global supplier for Tesla.
