Tesla is getting all prepped up to kickstart its operations in India. The American carmaker has hinted in the past, several times, that it is eyeing to enter India but nothing concrete ever happened until this year. Tesla recently registered a subsidiary company in India, after sitting down with state governments regarding the same. And now, reports suggest that Tesla might pick Gujarat to setup a base in India.
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In the past few years, Gujarat has emerged as a major hub for automobile giants, especially electric vehicles. The reason why the state is making a strong pitch for Tesla to set up its base there.
“Major electric car manufacturers and vehicle battery manufacturers are setting up facilities in Gujarat. We are hopeful that like other global automakers, Tesla will prefer Gujarat,” an official was quoted as saying. Gujarat also has the advantage of two major ports. Kandla and Mundra are being considered as possible locations for Tesla’s operations.
Like we mentioned earlier, Tesla has also registered itself in India. According to a Registrar of Companies (RoC) filing, the new entity Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited is registered in Bengaluru, Karnataka and is classified as a subsidiary of a foreign company. It has also registered its office in Lavelle Road, a business district in the southern city, with paid-up capital of ₹1 lakh and an authorised capital of ₹15 lakh, according to the filing. Tesla has named Vaibhav Taneja, Venkatrangam Sreeram and David Jon Feinstein as the three directors in the newly formed entity in the country.
The company is also in touch with as many as five state governments to set up operations in the country. As mentioned above, the regulatory filing shows the Indian unit has three directors including David Feinstein, who is currently a senior executive at Tesla, according to his LinkedIn profile.
We believe that Tesla is going to enter India riding on the Model 3. Tesla Model 3 is among the most affordable models of Tesla till date. The car was first rolled out in 2017 and has emerged as the world’s best selling all-electric car. Tesla will import the vehicles as completely built units, with the capability of charging in 15 minutes. Tesla’s Model 3, along with Model Y, accounted for nearly 89% of Tesla’s total sales in the third quarter of 2020.