Forget The Rs 21 Lakh Tesla As The Carmaker Will Only Sell Imported Cars In India

One of the reasons that Tesla may be cautious is that the EV market has softened in India and investing at this juncture is something Tesla wants to stall

Although we can still see the Model 3 and the Model Y on sale in India albeit at higher prices due to the full import duty being added on the cars

Source : Somnath Chatterjee

There was once a talk of the Rs 21 lakh Tesla but that will not happen as the carmaker will sell cars at the full import duty while not manufacturing in India. Tesla seems to be cautious about India as we have previously reported and hence, going the safe way of importing cars and selling via the CBU route. That will mean expensive cars though as the import duty will mean that the cheapest Tesla Model 3 would be more expensive that the BYD Seal and priced more like the BMW 3 Series. While Tesla can reap many benefits from the EV policy, it will not manufacture and would be cautious regarding its investments.

 

Although we can still see the Model 3 and the Model Y on sale in India albeit at higher prices due to the full import duty being added on the cars. Tesla will open two showrooms in India and the Model Y and the Model 3 would be the ones on sale. Tesla believes that the brand pull would be enough to secure sales even with the full import duty pushing prices which would compare to BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars.

 

 

One of the reasons that Tesla may be cautious is that the EV market has softened in India and investing at this juncture is something Tesla wants to stall. It will wait and watch most probably while seeing the reception to its cars while then deciding to further locally manufacture or not. As of now, the first showroom of Tesla will open in India later this year and the second one too.