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Tesla Motors is hoping a new location in Montreal will help it increase the number of its all-electric vehicles on our roads.

The 45,000 square foot sales and service centre on Ferrier St., officially inaugurated last week, replaces a much smaller location in Laval that was kind of a Band-Aid solution for the market,

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And the Montreal location, previously housing a Chrysler showroom, becomes the company’s largest of the 60 Tesla-operated locations in North America. But that distinction may not stick for long as the company continues to expand its network of sales and service centres, said Tesla communications manager Will Nicholas.

Jerome Guillen, senior vice-president of global sales and service for Tesla, said the growing interest in the brand in the region prompted the move to a larger location.

“We saw the customer interest increase and increase, and we were just ready to step up. I think we owed it to our customers to be able to have a location to serve them properly,” he said.

“Montreal is a very important location for us.”

Photo by John Kenney / Montreal Gazette

While there are only about 340 Tesla Model S sedans on Quebec roads right now — out of about 1,500 in Canada — the company is hopeful that will grow to the thousands in a few years, Nicholas said during a tour of the facility last week.