Turkish Tesla Model S and X owners, as well as Model 3 reservation holders, held their second annual meeting this weekend and for the occasion, they made a plea to the automaker and CEO Elon Musk to expand in the country with service centers and Superchargers.
Tesla doesn’t directly offer any service in Turkey at the moment – meaning that owners have to arrange for Tesla to send technicians when they need service or send the car over 1,000 miles away to the closest service center.
In order to get a Model S or X, they have to go through Tesla in another country and then import the car in Turkey themselves.
Despite the complexity, Turkish Tesla owners estimate that they have over 100 Tesla vehicles in the country. Electric vehicles are taxed at a much lower rate in Turkey, which acts as an incentive.
Tesla had originally planned to expand in Turkey in 2016 as evidenced by the map of Supercharger coverage that they released last year, but as we reported this weekend, those plans were pushed to 2017.
During their annual club meeting, Turkish owners took their Model S and X to Sapanca and produced a quick video to try to appeal to Tesla:
Maybe it will work since Tesla acknowledged that both strong Model 3 reservations and the fact that people were importing its cars without service being available factored into its decision to enter New Zealand last month.
Turkish owners are following a similar approach as owners in Portugal and owners in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) earlier this year. Owners from both countries formed clubs and produced videos pleading for Tesla to establish a presence in their countries at their last annual meetings.
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