Tesla has finally made its entry in the Indian market officially. The US electric automobile giant has registered as a company in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The CM of the state BS Yediyurappa welcomed Elon Musk to the country and the state. Tesla has set-up a research and development facility in Bengaluru that was confirmed by the Chief Minister on Twitter.
Since some asked for a daylight visual of the building where Tesla India is registered. This is in Lavelle Road, Bengaluru. #Teslaindia #Tesla
Ground floor of this high rise has a Lexus showroom. pic.twitter.com/LYweMsygW8— Chandra R. Srikanth (@chandrarsrikant) January 13, 2021
The Cupertino-based electric vehicle manufacturer has set-up Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited. According to the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the new entity is classified as a subsidiary of a foreign company. Tesla has also named Vibhav Taneja, Venkatrangam Sreeram and David Jon Feinstein as three directors in the newly formed company in India.
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Gaurav Gupta, principal secretary, commerce & industries of Karnataka said,
We have been interacting with Tesla for the last few months and it is a happy news that they have decided to incorporate their company here. We have impressed upon them that Bengaluru is not only the technology capital but also the aerospace and space capital. For any kind of technology collaboration, it has the right kind of talent pool.
Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited formed on 8th January 2021 according to the filling reports. Tesla will sell only Completely Built-Up or CBU products in the Indian market initially. There are no reports that suggest that Tesla will operate a plant in India in the coming months. However, if there is enough demand for the Tesla cars in India, such developments may happen in the future.
Tesla’s first product in India
Tesla’s first product in India will be the brand’s entry-level model – Model 3. A few years ago Tesla started accepting bookings for the Model 3 in India and business jargons like Vijay Shekhar Sharma were one of the first few ones to pay $1,000 booking amount and book the vehicle. However, Tesla decided to defer the launch in India later. With the new move, Tesla is likely to accept fresh bookings from the Indian market.
The first product is likely to have a price tag of around Rs 60 lakh. Since the import taxes are very high in India and Tesla will launch the car as CBU, it will command a high price tag. Tesla has set-up a Gigafactory in China and the products are likely to be imported from there. If Tesla ever builds a manufacturing facility in India, the price of the vehicles may come down to Rs 30 lakh but that might take years to happen.
The exact launch date of the Tesla vehicles in India is not known yet but it will happen in the coming months this year. The Tesla Model 3 is available in various variants. The base version of the vehicle is powered by a 283 Bhp electric motor that produces a maximum of 450 Nm of peak torque. This variant can do 0-100 km/h in about 5.5 seconds and can reach a top speed of 210 km/h. Tesla claims that it can do 350 km on a single charge. The top-end trim is much more powerful and gets a 450 Bhp electric motor. The motor develops a massive 639 Nm of peak torque and can do 0-100 km/h in just 3.1 seconds. This variant comes with a claimed range of 500 km in the international markets.
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