Come take a look inside the first Irish Tesla store

3 May 2017

The Tesla logo outside the first Irish store in Sandyford, Dublin. Image: Connor McKenna

Tesla has opened its first salesroom in Ireland, with plans to establish a presence here ahead of its affordable Model 3 going on sale at the end of the year.

The first Tesla Irish store officially opened for business on 26 April.

It had been a long time coming for fans (with a bit of loose cash) of the electric vehicles (EVs) in Ireland who, until the end of last year, had not been able to purchase one.

When Tesla announced sales in Ireland in November, it said that orders would take a couple of months to arrive from its factory in the US – the company is unlikely to open a European plant anytime soon.

It did, however, offer those interested a chance to drive the cars on pre-arranged test drives in various locations.

The first official centre in Sandyford, Dublin, is both a sales office and repair centre.

The Model 3 awaits

Much like Apple’s business model, Tesla cars can only be repaired or serviced at its own centres, so potential customers outside of Dublin might want to remember this fact.

However, a spokesperson for Tesla told me during my recent visit that there are plans in the future for a representative to come and collect the car in Ireland – a service it offers in the UK – or send someone to repair it at a customer’s home.

Until then, it will offer a loan car if the original needs to be kept in for a few days. Its engineers can also access it remotely through the car’s in-built SIM card, which downloads its software updates.

While the S and X models are currently the only cars that Tesla sells either here or anywhere, founder Elon Musk and the company’s shareholders are eagerly awaiting the release of the Model 3 sometime towards the end of this year.

In the meantime, here are just some of the photos we took during a visit to the store shortly after it opened.