India may soon become Tesla’s next automotive frontier – Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted the world’s top electric car maker could enter India’s huge automobile market as soon as 2021.
“Next year for sure. Thanks for waiting,” Musk said on Twitter in reply to a post with a photograph of a T-shirt with the message: “India wants Tesla.”
The tweet from an account called Tesla India Club, said, “Hey Elon, just thought we'd put this out here. We wait and hang on to hope wrt ‘hopefully soon’ for India Tesla entry. Would love to hear of any progress in this regard.”
Tesla had previously expressed hopes of entering India’s market, with Musk vowing in 2019 that his company will hit the Indian car market as early as this year.
Hey Elon , just thought we'd put this out here. We wait and hang on to hope wrt "hopefully soon" for India Tesla entry. Would love to hear of any progress in this regard. pic.twitter.com/8FNvyqFhIX
— Tesla Club India™ (@TeslaClubIN) October 2, 2020
In 2014, Tesla’s former CIO, Jayaprakash Vijayan, announced plans to launch a distribution network in the country. However, India’s taxation policy and high import costs prevented the world’s leading electric vehicle brand from taking the step.
Two years ago, Anand Mahindra, the CEO of Indian multinational conglomerate Mahindra Group, invited Tesla to set up a base in the country.
The Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a proposal in March 2019 aimed at implementing an eco-friendly policy called 'Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Phase II'.
India’s market looks promising for Tesla, but the country is still lagging behind neighboring China, where the manufacturer launched its first production facility outside the US. India reportedly had just 425 publicly available charging points as of the end of 2017.
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