It’s official. Tesla to set up manufacturing unit in India

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa declared on Saturday (13 February) that the US-based electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla will set up its production unit here.

“American car company Tesla will set up its electric car division in Karnataka,” Yediyurappa said in a statement. On 12 January, Yediyurappa had tweeted from his official handle that Tesla would start its operations in India with an R&D unit in Bengaluru.

Breaking his silence after the news broke that Tesla has finally entered India by registering it as a company in Bengaluru, its CEO Elon Musk said on January 13 that he is on the way to fulfil his promise to let electric cars run on the roads of India. ‘

Reacting to his 41.2 million followers, Musk tweeted on making India his next destination: “As promised”. The world’s richest man was replying to a tweet linked to a blog post on the Tesla fan site, Tesmanian, which noted that Tesla cars will be expensive for Indians but the cars will become more affordable for the country’s middle class when the company starts production within India.

According to reports Tesla would open pre-bookings for its Model 3 vehicle and the deliveries would be made by June. It is unlikely that the company will stitch partnerships with dealerships to sell its car.

Even though the Model 3 is one of Tesla’s more affordable cars, it will not be cheap in India and arrive as completely built units (CBU) with a high import duty charge. While there is no confirmation on the pricing, reports suggest that one Tesla Model 3 will cost Rs 55 lakh in India.