As we reported yesterday, Tesla officially launched in the United Arab Emirates – starting with Dubai. Tesla held an event at the Armani Hotel in the Burj Khalifa tower for the occasion and CEO Elon Musk gave a quick presentation, which you can see in full below.
We talked to a few people who were at the event, which was apparently packed with hundreds of people, and it was described as a success.
While there were already a lot of Tesla owners in UAE despite Tesla not officially selling in the country, a lot of potential buyers were also especially waiting for Tesla to enter the market and they placed their orders at the event last night.
Tesla brought a Model S and a Model X to the event. Here are a few pictures via our friend @belquhood on Twitter:
The vehicles were then transferred to Tesla’s new pop-up store in the Dubai mall. Tesla will be offering test drives and taking orders until the permanent Dubai store and service center open later this year.
During his presentation, Musk gave a breakdown of Tesla’s first investments in the region and also a quick summary of the current state of the company’s plans.
Musk said that after meeting UAE ministers, he was amazed by the country’s commitment to sustainable energy and he sees a potential for the region to lead in this sector. Of course, the UAE and the entire Gulf region is known for its oil industry, but some countries have been heavily investing in renewable energy as of the last few years.
Tesla obviously hopes to be part of the transition. We reported earlier today that the automaker signed a deal to supply 200 Model S/X vehicles with ‘fully self-driving-capability’ to Dubai’s taxi company.
Here’s the video of Musk’s presentation:
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