Tesla has officially landed in Chile, marking the first time it has appeared in a South American country as it continues to expand to new markets.
Tesla launched its first South American store in the capital of Santiago, giving buyers in the region their first looks at the all-electric automaker’s vehicles, which are in short supply on the continent.
EV adoption in South America is relatively limited due to a lack of presence by basically any company and a very slim charging network. However, there is reason to be encouraged by the potential growth of EVs throughout Latin America altogether, as sales in 2022 equated to roughly 40,700 units, with nearly 19,000 of those being in Brazil, BNAmericas reported.
Experts believe that pricing is the big holdup, and once price parity is reached, EV adoption will soar.
“Once price parity is achieved, we expect that sales will increase significantly,” Natalia Castilhos, who is BloombergNEF’s associate for Latin America, said.
In January, Tesla had already started planning to launch the location in Chile with an inauguration event. It was scheduled for earlier this week and made the first Tesla location in South America official.
Tesla is selling the Model 3 and Model Y in Chile, with both of those vehicles starting at 39,900,000 and 42,900,000 Chilean pesos, respectively.
This equates to $41,895 for the Model 3 Rear-Wheel-Drive and $45,045 for the Model Y Rear-Wheel-Drive.
Deliveries are currently slotted for April and May of this year.
Whether Tesla’s arrival in the country will encourage more EV adoption remains to be seen. EVs cost roughly four times that of an ICE vehicle in Chile, so there may be a bit of a challenge.
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