Tesla will reportedly open its first showroom in India next month. The first set of cars have arrived in the country, and the first city to see a showroom opening is Mumbai. This will be followed by New Delhi soon after. Bloomberg reports that Tesla’s popular Model Y rear-wheel drive SUVs have been shipped from the company’s China factory. India is the third-largest automobile market, and with Tesla's entry into the market, Elon Musk looks to find an audience here.
Tesla’s Model Y is the world’s largest selling electric car, and the company will reportedly flag off its operations in the Indian market with its safest bet. The Mumbai showroom will be over 4,000 square feet big and will be situated in Maker Maxity at Bandra Kurla Complex. New Delhi will soon see the opening of the second showroom in Aerocity near IGI Airport.
Bloomberg has seen internal Tesla documents that claim that the company has also imported car accessories, Supercharger components, spares, and other merchandise. All of this is imported from China, US, and Netherlands.
The report suggests that the new imported cars were declared at $31,988 each and they attracted 70 percent tariff under India’s import guidelines on fully built imported cars. The Model Y is reported to go on sale for $56,000 in India, before taxes and insurance. To compare, this model has an ex-showroom price of $44,990 in the US, and sells for $37,490 once tax credits are applied.
It is likely that Tesla may ditch the ‘completely built-up’ import route and opt for assembling in India in the later future, to evade the heavy taxes levied by the government. This high price may be a negative factor for Tesla initially. For now, Tesla just looks to resume operations in India. No formal announcements have come in from Tesla regarding its showroom opening yet.
