Tesla expands further in Eastern Europe

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said Tesla would open stores in Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia and most Eastern Europe states by early next year. Meanwhile, Model 3 has arrived in Australia, and back in the company’s home country, a judge in Delaware, USA orders Tesla to defend Elon Musk’s potential payout.

Firstly, Tesla is going to open stores in Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia and most Eastern Europe states, after the company opened online orders for customers in Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Hungary in August. While Telsa stores do not work like conventional dealerships of course, Teslerati writes that studies show stores are urgently needed in these territories since interest in Tesla vehicles is high. After all, an online sale hardly replaces a test ride or real-life experience.

Elon Musk confirmed the move with a statement on Twitter, with mention of the company’s namesake, Nikola Tesla, who was born in the Austro-Hungarian empire: “Hoping to open in Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia & most of Eastern Europe early next year. Finally, we will do Nikola Tesla proud by having his cars in his countries of origin!”

On the other side of the globe, hungry Tesla customers will soon be able to receive their Tesla Model 3. This month, Tesla is scheduled to deliver over 2,400 units of its Model 3 to Australia, which makes the model one of the most popular vehicles in the country.

These figures emerge despite the country’s leader making false claims about electric vehicles. In parliament, the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison claimed electric cars would ruin the Australian way of life, or the “Australian Weekend” as he put it. He mistakenly claimed that “[An electric vehicle] won’t tow your trailer. It’s not going to tow your boat… It’s not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family.”

In more news from Tesla, back in the USA, a judge in Delaware has ruled that Tesla’s board of directors must defend chief executive Elon Musk’s generous pay package. The ruling came after a shareholder submitted a lawsuit against the Tesla board of directors.

The multi-billion-dollar compensation package for CEO Elon Musk was a part of his contract extension for the next decade. The motion to approve the package passed in early 2018 with a large majority margin. At the time, Tesla described the deal as a motivational measure for Musk with the 12 deliverables set high. For example, Tesla wants to increase their market value in 50 billion dollar steps to no less than 650 billion dollars. At each level, Musk would receive 1.69 million shares of the company. If the market value proceeds indeed as planned, the collected shares would be worth about 50 billion dollars.

Now that the Delaware judge has ruled against Tesla’s request to dismiss the shareholder lawsuit, the board must now defend against the claim that Musk could be unjustly enriched. The shareholder filing the lawsuit demands that the pay package be rescinded and the board overhauled to protect investors better.

ibtimes.com, twitter.com (Eastern Europe), teslarati.com (Australia), carscoops.com (lawsuit)