As per a new report, Tesla might finally bring its first car to India as early as next year after years of deciding to launch the Electric Vehicle (EV) brand in India. The report even suggests that the bookings for the vehicle will begin as early as next month.
ET Auto has reported that the EV manufacturer will be launching Model 3 in India and claims that the company will start deliveries from the end of the first quarter of 2021-22.
Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, made a claim in October of introducing the EV brand in India in 2021, upon responding to a Tweet.
Transport Minister and the Minister of MSME, Nitin Gadkari, has informed The Indian Express Idea Exchange programme that Tesla will “start operations” in India in early 2021. The minister underlined the push for electrical cars in the country and added that “India is going to become a number 1 manufacturing hub for auto in five years.” Therefore, confirming the information in the new report.
In 2016, Tesla had plans to bring the company to India, so much so that they even began bookings for its Model 3. However, due to a lack of proper infrastructure, the company decided not to launch it, “maybe I’m misinformed, but I was told that 30% of parts must be locally sourced and the supply doesn’t yet exist in India to support that,” Musk had tweeted. The EV brand will be importing the cars as Completely Built Units (CBU) and will focus on online sales instead of selling them via dealerships.
Model 3, which is Tesla’s most affordable offering and forms the bulk of the company’s sales across the globe, commences the company’s entry into India. Reportedly Model 3, which was introduced in the year 2017, will come with an estimated entry price of ₹55 lakh.
The Model 3 comes with a top speed of 162 Kmph and takes 3.1 seconds to go from zero to 100 kmph. There is no official detail about the exact launch dates yet.
