New Delhi, 19 February (IANS). American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla is set to enter India later this year. Alan Musk-run company “Top-Down Approach” is ready to adopt. The company will first launch expensive models in the country and then launch cheap vehicles.
The electric car manufacturer is allegedly set to import a fully assembled model ‘Y’ from its Berlin Gigafactory. The electric SUV is manufactured in the right-hand drive configuration in Europe.
The Tesla model Y will be priced at Rs 60-70 lakh in view of the recently announced amended import duty structure.
The country has reduced the basic customs duty from 110 percent to 70 percent on high-end cars priced more than 40 thousand dollars (about Rs 34,780).
The Right-Hand-Drive Model 3 is also made in Shanghai, but it is unlikely to come in the first stage due to obstacles on Chinese car imports.
According to industry experts, there is currently no plans for local assembly of Tesla vehicles. However, these plans may change in the near future.
Tesla, which has an office in Pune, is allegedly looking for places in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai and Arocity in Delhi to set up their first showroom in the country.
The company has advertised for at least 13 new roles, most of which are for the markets in Mumbai and Delhi.
According to LinkedIn advertisements, these jobs include various advisory roles including business operation analyst, service technician and customer engagement manager and order operations specialist.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Tesla owner Ellen Musk in the US and discussed various issues including space, mobility, technology and innovation.
The world’s richest man has also considered the idea of developing a more affordable version of Tesla for the Indian market, but has not yet made any special progress on it.
-IANS
SKT/Ekde
