As American EV firm Tesla announced its India entry this week, talks have been rife whether the Elon Musk-led company will tie-up with an Indian manufacturer to launch its products in the country. While there has been no official word, a tweet from Tata Motors sent the grapevine buzzing with a Tata-Tesla joint venture.
The tweet from Tata Motors’ EV wing, quoting a line from a famous Bollywood song, on Friday said, "Aajkal tere mere pyaar ke charche hain akhbaar mein, Sab ko malum hai aur sabko khabar ho gayi!", and tagged Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk with the hashtags #WelcomeTesla and #TeslaInIndia.
This sent the social media users and industry watchers into a tizzy. The tweet was later deleted and Tata Motors officially denied any such association.
"We have not taken any decision regarding a strategic partner for our PV business and categorically deny all rumours suggesting the same," it said.
However, the clarification has not satisfied all the enthusiastic social media users who continue to believe that the first tweet was just a Freudian slip from a Tata employee.
It is worth mentioning that the rumours of a Tata-Tesla are not new and have been circulated for a while. Tata has already entered the EV market and hopes to expand its base as Indians move further towards electric mobility.
Even before Tesla announced an official plan, Tata Motors denied tying up with the company for its India foray.
"Tata Motors has not taken any decision regarding a strategic partner for its PV business and categorically denies any and all rumours suggesting the same," the company said in a regulatory statement.
Tesla, on the other hand, has registered itself in Bengaluru a few days ago, as it launches an ambitious plan to capture the Indian EV market.
According to a regulatory filing, the firm has registered Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt Ltd with RoC Bangalore.
The company has been registered as an unlisted private entity with a paid up capital of Rs 1 lakh.
Vaibhav Taneja, Venkatrangam Sreeram and David Jon Feinstein have been appointed as directors of Tesla India, as per the Registrar of Companies (RoC) filing.