ALBAWABA – Tesla, the American Electric Vehicle (EV) maker, has only sold a single car in South Korea last month, its lowest figure since Jul. 2022, when it had not sold any cars, based on information provided by Seoul-based researcher Carisyou and the Korean Trade Ministry, due to worries about safety, lack of infrastructure for charging, price concerns and demand according to Bloomberg.
According to Carsiyou, the EV market in South Korea is facing a harsh downturn, with a newly registered number of EVs in the country dropping 80 percent in the last month, caused by increasing interest rates and price inflation that refrain customers from spending, as well as safety concerns over reports of Tesla cars catching flames and a drought of charging stations across the country.
Bloomberg adds that the Chinese-manufactured Tesla Model Y's low January sales shifted the car from being one of the company’s best sellers last year to a slumpy situation, explained by early adopters already fueling their needs and not planning to re-purchase as of yet, with experts linking Chinese links to the car production to its hurt sales according to Lee Hang-Koo, head of the Jeonbuk Institute of Automotive Convergence Technology.
In a 2017 interview at the TED conference, Elon stated:
— Timmy (@elektrotimmy) February 6, 2024
„If you create a great product, it's basically like selling itself. The marketing is built into the product."
And he was right.
Tesla's success, sales, hype, and an unprecedented brand image - didn't come from ads but… pic.twitter.com/dzIrYgbPcQ
Lee adds that strong fluctuations of interest have an impact on Korea's EV sales as well; as a lot of consumers decide not to purchase cars in January in order to wait for the government to offer subsidies, which do not apply to Tesla after it set the Model Y price to 56,990,000 won, lower than the required threshold of 57 million won that would allow it to earn it the governmental subsidy.
