Last April, company founder and American tech billionaire Elon Musk had postponed his proposed visit to India at the last minute citing “very heavy Tesla obligations” but the proposed visit had raised expectations of Musk announcing plans for the way forward for selling Tesla electric cars in India at the earliest.
His planned visit to India came weeks after the government announced a new electric vehicle policy under which import duty concessions will be given to companies setting up manufacturing units in the country with a minimum investment of USD 500 million, a move aimed at attracting major global players like Tesla.
An advisor representing Tesla — The Asia Group (TAG) had even attended a stakeholders’ meeting on the new EV policy along with those from Vietnam’s EV maker VinFast and all the major manufacturers in India, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata, Mahindra, Kia, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi.
Musk had said in 2022 that Tesla, which was earlier seeking a reduction in import duties to sell its vehicles in India, would not manufacture its products unless it is allowed to first sell and service its cars in the country.
In August 2021, Musk had said that Tesla may set up a manufacturing unit in India if it first succeeds with imported vehicles in the country.
He had said Tesla wanted to launch its vehicles in India “but import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country!” At present, cars imported as completely built units (CBUs) attract customs duty ranging from 70 per cent to 100 per cent, depending on the engine size and cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value.