Exclusive: An automotive dealership and service centre north of downtown Victoria is making way for Tesla, Inc.’s first Vancouver Island electric vehicle delivery and repair facility, Citified has learned.

 

 

Ina Motors, which operates a used vehicle dealership at 2204 Douglas Street between Queens and Princess avenues, is consolidating its auto sales and repair business in Langford along Station Avenue, clearing the way for Tesla Motors to occupy its Burnside-Gorge space.

 

The shuffle, however, will reportedly be temporary while Texas-based Tesla pursues a custom-built service centre on the West Shore near Costco to handle growing south Island demand for its services. The company is expected to announce formal plans for a Langford-based permanent location in the coming days.

 

Tesla’s search for a Victoria point of service and sales dates back to 2015 when the automaker set its sights on a Vancouver Island presence, although finding a suitable property proved to be challenging in light of competition for dealership lots.

 

Five years later in 2020, the world’s largest producer of electric vehicles made local waves when Jerome Guillen, an executive at Tesla, identified Victoria as a near-term physical location expansion target on social media website LinkedIn.

 

In a series of posts, Guillen named the BC capital, along with Encinitas, Van Nuys, south Orange County and Pasadena, California, plus Queens, New York and south Orlando, Florida as future service centre locations for its expanding line-up of electric cars and soon-to-be pick-up trucks.

 

At the time, Guillen noted that Tesla was “still looking for additional service centre locations,” and that its focus would be on “properties previously used for automotive or zoned for automotive uses” with a minimum 15,000 square foot size. The criteria created plenty of speculation and online banter as fans of the brand and the general public mused on potential real-estate candidates.

 

Tesla’s service centres perform complex repairs and vehicle upgrades which have historically required Victoria and Island-based owners to travel to Vancouver if the work could not be carried out by local technicians.

 

Five Tesla stores and/or service centres are currently operating in British Columbia, all of which are within Metro Vancouver. C

 

Receive Citified's timely real-estate news straight to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter, and connect with us on Facebook: