Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, responded to a tweet questioning Tesla’s plans to build a plant in India, saying, “Tesla will not build a manufacturing facility anywhere that is not initially allowed to sell and service cars.”
Earlier, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, who addressed the climate action committee on October 8, said he had asked Tesla not to sell Chinese-made electric vehicles in India. Instead, he urged the now-Texas-based Tesla automaker to “make cars in India, sell them in India, and export from India.”
Elon Musk lashes out at India’s import tax
hike Thus for almost five years, there was no way to sell Tesla in India.
Tesla owns two-thirds of the 5,68,000 electric cars sold in the United States between 2017 and 2020. But electric vehicle sales in the Indian market are not heating up yet. In 2019-20, Indians have purchased less than 5,000 electric four-wheelers. Due to this, the price is reported to be very high and the charging infrastructure is low.
In this regard, Elon Musk tweeted in 2019, “I said that import taxes are too high (up to 100%) even for electric cars in India. This will make our cars unaffordable.”
India considers electric locomotives to be the only way to make these cars available at affordable prices, as electric vehicles help reduce air pollution and reduce its dependence on crude oil.
In January, Tesla registered a company in India. The company has sourcing partnerships with three automobile parts manufacturers in India. It is also in talks with a handful of manufacturers to manufacture parts locally. But Muskin’s strategy is to import vehicles first and start production if it is well received.
In this regard, Musk tweeted earlier this year, “If Tesla can succeed with imported vehicles, it has a chance to set up a factory in India.” So he expects to get at least a “temporary queue” for imported Tesla vehicles.
For now, Tesla is focusing more on markets where “there will be customers for our larger range of products,” Musk said. So Tesla is increasing its capacity in the North American and Chinese industries. It is in this context that Muskin’s views on Indian production receive attention.
Tesla’s plan is to make concessions to imports first, to start production depending on the reception of imported cars, and India’s plan is to get cars at lower prices if it starts production domestically.
