Tesla gets approval for 4 electric car models for India

Ever since Elon Musk announced that Tesla will be entering India, there has been a lot of buzz around it. They are already planning their dealerships in India and they are already working on setting up the office in Mumbai. Tesla has already registered itself in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Model 3 and Model Y has already been spotted being tested on Indian roads. Now, according to a tweet, Tesla has completed homologation. They have received approval for four vehicle variants in India.

BREAKING : Tesla has completed homologation & received approval for 4 of it's vehicle variants in India.

While we don't have any confirmation on names yet, these are probably Model 3 & Y variants.

Will post more once we have confirmation.#TeslaIndia🇮🇳 #TCIN #Tesla pic.twitter.com/ozE5LV1u8Y

— Tesla Club India® (@TeslaClubIN) August 30, 2021

It means that the models that will be coming to India are most likely to be Model 3 and Model Y. Both vehicles will be getting two variants each. It is important to note that there is no confirmation that about the models being Model 3 and Model Y. However, both these models are entry-level vehicles from Tesla. The Model S and Model X are much larger and costs significantly higher. So, it does not makes sense for Tesla to bring Model X and Model S to India as of now. Also, only Model Y and Model 3 have been spotted in India.

Also read: India’s famous Tesla owners: Mukesh Ambani to Riteish Deshmukh

Tesla will be opening up dealerships in metropolitan cities first. The dealerships will slowly be opened in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. They have registered themselves as Tesla India Motors And Energy Private Limited in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

It is expected that Tesla will be bringing the vehicles as CBU or Completely Built Units. Because of this, the price will go up substantially. We are looking at around Rs. 60 lakh mark for the Model 3 and the Model Y would cost even more. This is one of the reasons why Tesla is setting up their first dealerships in big metropolitan cities. We hope that Tesla shifts to CKD or Completely Built Unit which would help in dropping the prices. If Tesla somehow figures out to locally manufacture the parts then the prices would drop significantly. However, that would take time and a lot of effort.

One of the roadblocks that Tesla would have to face is the high import tax. Elon Musk has already tweeted about this. He wrote on Twitter that import duties in India are among the highest in the world and that India treats clean vehicles the same as the vehicles that are powered by fossil fuel. He also indicated that there is a possibility of Tesla setting up a factory in India if everything works well.

Tesla asked for reducing the import duties on electric vehicles. Manufacturers like Hyundai and Volkswagen have supported this but other manufacturers like Tata Motors and Ola have opposed it. Pawan K Goenka, who is retired MD of Mahindra also tweeted in favour of reducing the taxes and import duties for electric cars. So, there are mixed relations to it. Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder of Ola said, “Strongly disagree with both. Let’s have confidence in our ability to build indigenously and also attract global OEMs to build in India, not just import. We won’t be the first country to do so!” The government has not yet announced its decision regarding import duty.

Also read: Skoda Kodiaq to dump diesel, go petrol-only: Launch in Q3 2021