Following what the company refers to as “overwhelming demand for Model 3 and enthusiasm from owners who have imported their Tesla’s into the country”, Tesla announced today a complete expansion in New Zealand with its vehicle business and its energy products, which are already available through the Tesla authorized installer Vector Energy.

Last year, Vector announced that it was giving away 130 solar installations with Tesla Powerwalls in New Zealand.

They will start taking orders for the Model S and X in November and by the second quarter 2017, they will have a Tesla Store and Service and Superchargers in New Zealand.

Due to its relatively small size, New Zealand will be ideal to deploy a DC fast-charging network like the Tesla Supercharger.

Additionally, Tesla will hold test drive events in the country by the end of the year. You should keep an eye on Tesla’s event page for upcoming events when they will be announced. The automaker is starting its hiring process in the country ahead of those events and the upcoming store and service center in the country.

New Zealand’s car market is not big, but it’s still significant enough that it now registers about 100,000 new cars per year and it increased by about 40% in the past 6 years.

The country launched a plan earlier this year to double the number of electric vehicles in New Zealand every year to reach about 64,000 by 2021. EVs are currently exempt from Road User Charges. They already have close to 2,000 electric vehicles on the road and even a few Teslas, but they were imported by the owners and they don’t have access to service.

That’s about to change!

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