Tesla opened a new experience center store in Shanghai on Thursday, the latest example of a new-energy vehicle (NEV) maker showing confidence in the burgeoning domestic market, despite certain economic headwinds. 

The 2,180 square meter experience center provides presales services like consulting, test drives and aftersales services like car maintenance. It is the 14th experience center Tesla has opened in China so far. 

A total of seven Tesla Model 3s and Ys with different configurations are being displayed at the center, as well as a skeleton of a Model S car, which attracted the most attention from visitors to the store, the Global Times observed. 

This could be another signal of the US electric car giant’s ambition to expand in the Chinese market at a time when both consumption demand and industrial competition are surging. 

"We are very confident about the Chinese market, as we see China is speeding up its pace of opening-up," Linda Gong, general manager of Tesla China Shanghai Region, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

“China's business environment is also becoming more legalized, international and fair,” Gong noted, adding that China has formed a very "positive" environment for the NEV market, which makes the company confident about speeding up its development pace.

She also disclosed that Tesla is looking to further increase the localization rate of its industrial chain in China as well as opening more stores.



 
Apart from Tesla, a number of other NEV companies have also opened new experience centers this year, including domestic firms Xpeng Motors and IM Motors. 

Jidu, an electric vehicle venture controlled by Baidu and co-funded by Chinese automaker Geely, also announced recently that it would open its first brand experience center in Shanghai this year, while saying its first batch of stores are expected to open in 46 domestic cities by 2023, according to media reports. 

The fact that NEV brands are competing with each other in opening new branches is also a reflection of their need to maintain and increase market share at a time when the Chinese NEV sector is growing despite economic challenges in other areas. 

In the first seven months this year, a total of 2.7 million NEVs were sold in China, up 121.5 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).