Elon Musk, founder of Tesla on several occasions stated that Tesla will be entering India soon. Last time, he stated it will enter India in 2021. Looks like Tesla is working hard to achieve that target. According to Reuters, Tesla is hunting for locations to open showrooms in three Indian cities -- Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru. In addition, the company is in the process of hiring an executive to handle Indian operations.
It has already registered a close local company in India. This local company will import and sell Tesla’s Model 3 sedan in India.
Now, the automaker is looking for a showroom space that will be as large as 20,000-30,000 square feet in each location. This space will be showrooms and service centres.
Global property consultant CBRE Group is hired for the showroom searches by Tesla. The consultant has been hunting for places in affluent areas that match the company’s space requirement. However, in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, large spaces in affluent areas are largely unavailable. "If you look at Tesla's showrooms globally, they are like experience centres. It would look at replicating that with some modifications for the Indian market," said one of the sources, all of whom declined to be identified as the talks are private.
The report stated the company has recruited Manuj Khurana, a former executive of India's investment promotion body Invest India. He is the first major hire to lead its policy and business development efforts in the country.
