Do Tesla Job Ads Mean The EV Car Company Is Coming To Halifax?
HALIFAX — Electric vehicle giant Tesla appears poised to open a store in the Halifax area, possibly before the end of the year.
The company recently posted a pair of job advertisements on its corporate website for positions in the HRM. According to the ads, the company is looking to hire both a “field service technician” and a sales and customer support advisor in Dartmouth.
Tesla hasn’t officially confirmed its intent to move into Halifax, and didn’t respond to Huddle’s requests for comment, but industry insiders are confident the company is on the verge of setting up shop in the area.
David Giles is the vice president at ALL EV Canada Inc., a Dartmouth-based business that services and sells used electric vehicles, including Teslas.
Giles isn’t officially connected to Tesla in any way but says all the signs indicate the company is eager to establish itself in Halifax.
Giles says he interviewed with Tesla last year. At the time they told him they had their eyes on Atlantic Canada and were closely monitoring the market.
Since then, the company has made several moves that Giles says show they are ready to expand here.
“Tesla is very strategic in what they’re trying to do right now,” Giles says. He points out that the company has dropped prices significantly on many of its models in Canada, which indicates “they’re trying to move inventory: they need their numbers for their shareholders.”
As Drive Tesla Canada reported last week, Tesla this month also announced a major change to its “Carrier Direct Policy” which means it will no longer deliver cars directly to its customers’ homes if they live in a province without a Tesla store.
That means prospective Tesla buyers in Nova Scotia would have to drive more than 10 hours to Quebec to pick up their purchase. Opening a Tesla store in the HRM would eliminate what is now a huge barrier for prospective Tesla buyers in Atlantic Canada.
“I think with the growth of the electric cars, and what was going on with transporting and the sales out here, I think they realized [it was time to come to Halifax],” Giles says.
The company has also begun advertising sales positions in both Saskatchewan and Winnipeg—two provinces that don’t currently have a Tesla presence, suggesting a larger Canadian expansion strategy.
Giles believes Tesla will aim to have a store open in Dartmouth before the end of the year “to get their quarter numbers up.”
“What they’re probably doing with that field technician advertisement is trying to get somebody in place to set a store up, get them trained, and then bring in a [sales person] before the end of the year,” he says.
Tesla doesn’t operate traditional dealerships. Instead, it runs what it calls “stores” where customers can check out Tesla models, ask questions, and order a vehicle to be shipped to them.
Tesla stores are often set up in malls and Giles says there’s a good chance the Tesla store in Dartmouth will go up “at one of the malls.”