Facebook Tesla plans to operate in the national capital Delhi, in the north, and the financial capital, Mumbai, in the western state of Maharashtra initially. In Delhi, Tesla will open a showroom in Aerocity, a posh business and hospitality district near Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI). Similarly, in Mumbai, it has selected a retail space in BKC, an upscale business district. According to a report Reuters published in December last year, Tesla was looking at properties offering a 3,000-5,000 sq. ft. area in Delhi. The company wanted to integrate a space for deliveries and servicing within the showrooms. Tesla has listed job openings in India for positions typically associated with sales and servicing, including Tesla Advisor, Store Manager, Service Advisor, and Service Technician, at its Delhi and Mumbai locations. The company is also hiring for customer support, marketing, and operations analysis. Interestingly, one of the job listings suggests that Tesla may set up an R&D centre in India. The company is looking for a PCB Design Engineer for Electronic Systems in Pune, a major IT hub about 150 km away from Mumbai. Volkswagen Group, Mercedes-Benz Group, and Tata Motors also operate R&D centres in Pune. Inaugural product to be Model Y or compact EV Given India’s strong preference for SUVs, Tesla could begin its journey with the Model Y, which it refreshed just last month. The company sources the Model Y for most Asian countries from the Gigafactory Shanghai. However, considering India’s geopolitical tensions with China, it will likely make an exception and import the EV from Gigafactory Berlin—Brandenburg. The Indian government has firmly advised Tesla against importing any car from China, as per a moneycontrol report. The company has seemingly followed this advice to stay in the government’s good books, ensuring a smooth market entry and maintaining favourable conditions for potential future investment approvals and incentives. CNBC-TV18 says Tesla is indeed considering importing EVs from its German factory, but it expects the company to first launch a 25,000-dollar (approx. 24,000-euro) EV. However, Tesla no longer appears to be pursuing an EV at that price point, and perhaps the Indian publication is referring to the rumoured sub-30,000-dollar (approx. sub-29,000-euro) ‘Model Q’ compact EV. In its Q4 and FY2024 investor report, Tesla stated that it is working on “more affordable models” and is on track to start their production by June 2025. The company plans to build these EVs on the next-generation platform that includes certain “aspects,” possibly modules or individual components, of its current platforms. Tesla to give billion-dollar business to India A few years down the line, Tesla may set up a local factory to manufacture the rumoured Model Q and assemble the bigger and more expensive EVs like the Model 3 and Model Y. However, at this point, the company has no firm plans to set up a plant in India. Instead, initially, it will contribute to India’s economy through a different route. According to the CNBC-TV18 report, Tesla will likely import components valued at more than one billion dollars (approx. 957 million euros) from India this year and significantly increase Indian sourcing later. Indian Prime Minister meets Elon Musk On 13 February, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk, now also a senior advisor to US President Donald Trump, met at the White House. They did not detail the specifics of their discussions. When a journalist asked Modi whether he discussed any potential business deals with Musk, he dodged the question with a perplexing remark, saying that the one person who has a copyright for the word ‘EV’ is Trump. Previous media reports do give a hint of what Modi and Musk may have discussed, though, in addition to the obvious expectation of Tesla’s India entry. In March 2024, India introduced an EV policy that allows automakers who invest 500 million dollars (approx. 478 million euros) or more in EV manufacturing and achieve 50% localisation in terms of value within five years to import 8,000 EVs annually at a concessional customs duty of 15% for five years. Normally, the country imposes a customs duty of up to 110% on new cars. The EV policy received a tepid response, so at the end of last year, the Indian government announced that it would relax some requirements. And it seems the Modi government is considering lowering tariffs on electric cars to avoid retaliatory tariffs from the Trump administration.