Tesla is set to open its second sales and servicing centre in Ireland, with The Irish Examiner reporting that the electric car giant has taken on a large building in Cobh Cross business park.
Second sales location
The location is just off the busy N25 that runs between Cork and Waterford and will be Tesla's second major location in Ireland, alongside the existing sales and servicing centre in Sandyford Industrial Estate in Dublin.
There is also a small Tesla service centre in Shannon, and a retail-only unit in Douglas, in Cork. While Tesla has not officially announced the move, the Irish Examiner is quoting 'local sources' as confirming the move into a large unit previously occupied by a furniture retailer, which French sports and clothing brand Decathalon had reportedly been eyeing up.
More Superchargers
The Examiner is also reporting that the dealership will have 13 Tesla Supercharger charging bays, which will dramatically expand the EV charging options in Cork, albeit only for Tesla owners. In 2021, Tesla opened its first Supercharger location in Cork, at the Mahon Point shopping centre, with four charging points capable of offering up to 250kW of charging power.
Tesla sales increased considerably in Ireland last year, reaching 1,318 cars, up from 863 in 2021. The biggest seller was the Model 3 saloon, which found 1,044 homes. With 122 Tesla sales, Cork was second only to Dublin in Tesla registrations last year, albeit with a large gap to the 748 Dublin registrations.
When the boat comes in
In January of this year, Tesla officially registered just one car - a Model 3 - but that is not the disaster it sounds like. The brand doesn't really conform to Ireland's traditional January-heavy registrations. It tends to deliver cars in bulk at specific times of the year, built around shipping dates from its US and Chinese factories.