Tesla does not provide tech support or a warranty to unsupported countries, but that isn’t stopping eager drivers from snapping up these EVs imported from China.
Uruguay is becoming a burgeoning Tesla hotspot despite the EV company having no official presence in the country.
Uruguay is not a Tesla-supported country, with no dealerships or online sales. Any vehicles registered in the country have been imported through unofficial channels.
Imports are cheapest from China, where half of all Teslas are manufactured, Ramiro Duer, owner of AutoImport, tells Rest of the World. He has imported 80 Teslas from China in the past year through a confidential agreement with Chinese partners.
They purchase the vehicle from Chinese Teslas dealerships, and work with shipping agents to find a spot on a ship and complete the paperwork to ship to Uruguay. The process takes several weeks, and the vehicles arrive with the clock set to China Standard Time.
It’s unclear how many Teslas are in Uruguay; the numbers are all over the place.
