Tesla is coming to India in 2020 if not early. This was the official statement by Tesla juggernaut Elon Musk who was present at this year’s Hyperloop Pod competition that was held on July 21 where teams from all over the world tested their Hyperloop pods in various categories. One such team was Avishkar Hyperloop from IIT Madras who coined the question and Tesla CEO affirmed it by quoting next year when Indians will get to test drive Tesla electric cars.
Musk was reported saying that it will be going to happen in a year which is probably by 2020. Elon Musk has been delaying the plans to have India as one of the countries where it sells its electric cars such as the uber-popular Model 3 and the Roadster. He blamed the FDI norms and various government policies and regulations in India as the reasons behind the delay in rolling out Tesla cars on the Indian terrain. Another blow came when Tesla CFO Deepak Ahuja retired from the firm earlier this year thereby delaying the plan to roll out its Model 3 in India by a bit.
Back in 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Tesla HQ at Palo Alto in California where Musk gave a tour of the plant. Fast forward to January 2019, Musk laid the foundation to its first-ever Gigafactory outside the United States and set it up in Shanghai, China where it is expected to produce half a million units of its electric cars that will double its production capacity to satisfy the increasing demand across the globe.
It will be a matter of time until we know if the Tesla cars in India will be shipped from the United States or from China where the latter will be comparatively cheaper. Thanks to the ongoing surge in demand for premium Sedans and SUVs in India from carmakers like BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, it won’t be a surprise if Tesla too starts selling its electric vehicles like a hot-selling cake considering the price tag of $35,000 that comes with its Tesla Model 3 which is roughly 25 lacs while Model S could fetch a whopping 1.5 crore in India.
Tesla Model 3 currently has the most efficient and long-range when compared to other electric vehicles. Back in 2017, the Model S P100D roared from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.28 seconds that was further enhanced by 2018 Tesla roadster which clocked 100 km/h in just 1.9 seconds thereby breaking the stereotypes around electric vehicles.
