The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many job losses and reduction of income, but there’s a silver lining to be seen amid the doom and gloom.
As Singapore’s a business and commercial hub, major international companies are always looking to open branches here, creating jobs in the process.
The latest global brand to come to Singapore might be car manufacturer Tesla, which has been posting job advertisements in Singapore.
Upon seeing a job opening for senior developers in Singapore on social network LinkedIn, Bloomberg reported that it was for Tesla.
However, Bloomberg later clarified that that opening was for Tesla Consulting, a Singapore-based company.
Nevertheless, a search on LinkedIn shows that the American firm Tesla has also been posting a range of other job openings since 2 months ago.
It’s looking for:
From the existence of these job postings, Bloomberg said it’s a signal that the electric-car maker will be setting up shop in Singapore.
So far, Tesla has no showrooms in the Republic.
The company’s founder Elon Musk has been vocal over the reason why, saying over Twitter that Singapore’s Government “is not supportive of electric vehicles”.
However, in contrast to its absence in Singapore, Tesla has a presence in other major Asian cities, showing that it’s not adverse to expansion in Asia.
Tesla has branches in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Taipei, and recently opened a new factory in Shanghai.
In fact, Bloomberg reported that Tesla will be shipping cars from its Shanghai factory to other Asian countries.
That includes Singapore, which could get Tesla cars by the end of 2020 or beginning of 2021.
Mr Musk may not have opened a branch in Singapore yet, but he already has connections in Singapore.
Notably, he’s already connected with Razer chief executive Min-Liang Tan over Twitter, sparking speculation that the 2 bosses will collaborate on a solar/battery outfit for the Razer building in one-north.
More spectacularly, Mr Musk called up Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2016, getting him to agree to investigate a $15,000 tax on an electric car.
To be sure, Singapore definitely isn’t against electric cars. There have been signs that we’re opening up to the idea, just a bit slowly.
After all, we already have our very own electric car sharing service, Blue SG.
Also, Dyson’s new global headquarters in Singapore, which will be located in St James Power Station, will also oversee the building of electric cars here.
Shell’s launching of electric vehicle chargers at its petrol stations also shows that it’ll get easier for electric car users to charge up.
Most significantly, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said in this year’s Budget that we’ll be aiming to phase out fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2040.
There’ll also be incentives like rebates to encourage people to adopt electric cars, and an increase in charging stations.
As the trend in Singapore steadily goes towards electric vehicles, perhaps this will persuade Tesla to finally open its first outpost in Singapore.
This will only be good news for us, as not only will we become more environmentally friendly, more jobs will be available for Singaporeans.
We don’t know what’s keeping Tesla from making the official announcement, but we’ll be ready and waiting when it makes its move.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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