New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) With Tesla finally gearing up to enter India later this year, the Elon Musk-run electric vehicle (EV) major is set to take a “top-down approach” – launch expensive models in the country first and then follow it up with the cheaper vehicles.
The electric car maker is reportedly set to import its fully-built Model Y from its Berlin Gigafactory, as the electric SUV is manufactured in right-hand drive configuration in the European facility.
The Tesla Model Y would cost Rs 60-70 lakh, considering the revised import duty structure recently announced by the government.
The country has reduced basic customs duty on high-end cars priced above $40,000 from 110 per cent to 70 per cent.
The right-hand-drive Model 3 is also made in Shanghai but that’s unlikely to arrive first owing to constraints on Chinese car imports.
According to industry experts aware of the development on the Tesla front, there are currently no plans for local assembly of Tesla vehicles.
However, these plans can change in the near future.
Tesla, which has an office in Pune, is reportedly searching for locations in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai and Aerocity in Delhi to set up their first showrooms in the country.
The company has advertised for at least 13 new roles, mostly for the Mumbai and Delhi markets. The jobs include business operation analyst, service technician and various advisory roles, including customer engagement manager and order operations specialist, as per its LinkedIn advertisements.
The latest developments came after the successful visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US, where he met Musk and discussed various issues, including space, mobility, technology and innovation.
The world’s richest man has also toyed with the idea of developing a more affordable version of Tesla for the Indian market but there has not been much movement on it yet.