Musk Visits Europe as Model 3 Teslas are Readied for Buyers
In a move that will surely delight his many European fans, Elon Musk said he is in Europe this weekend.
(Bloomberg) -- In a move that will surely delight his many European fans, Elon Musk said he is in Europe this weekend for the launch of the Tesla Model 3 and plans to visit Norway, the carmaker’s third-biggest market.
Sharing an itinerary that has him crisscrossing northern Europe, Musk said Saturday he is planning to visit both Tesla’s headquarters in Amsterdam and Oslo, to review service in Norway where delays have irked customers, before the day ends.
Musk had earlier stopped in Tilburg in the Netherlands and the Belgian port city of Zeebrugge. Musk’s tweet included an image of what appeared to be a number of Model 3 Teslas.
Tesla doubled its Norwegian service staff last year, to more than 360, seeking to resolve customer frustration at delays in one of its top markets before delivering the new Model 3, a company spokesman confirmed two weeks ago.
The carmaker’s Norway operations are closely watched, as the country has the world’s highest number of electric cars per inhabitant thanks to generous government incentives for low-emission vehicles. The Nordic country has become the California-based carmaker’s third-biggest market. But capacity shortages at the firm resulting in long service queues have frustrated customers.
Tesla has 13 service centers in Norway and is working to get two more running as soon as possible, he said. The company also got approval for mobile service units last year, allowing it to test three of them through June.
Prices for the Model 3 vary depending on the country, with customers in Belgium paying a base price of 58,800 euros ($66,600), compared with 55,400 euros in Germany and 53,500 euros in France.
Tesla has cut the Model 3 sticker price in the U.S. twice this year to $42,900 to partially offset a reduction in federal tax credits.
--With assistance from Mikael Holter.
To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Zuidijk in London at dzuidijk@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Katerina Petroff at kpetroff@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann
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