Key highlights
- Tesla electric cars to be sold as CBU only
- Heavy Industries Minister confirms the local production cancellation
- American EV makers refraining from setting up local assembly plants
Tesla is not going to set up local assembly of its EVs in India, as per the latest news confirmation by the Indian government. Check out the complete story behind it below.
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Tesla electric cars to be imported, but why?
As per the latest statement of H D Kumaraswamy, Heavy Industries Minister, “Tesla only wants to open showrooms and sell imported cars in India”.
It appears that the US president’s stand for not letting auto makers escape American soil has come into effect. Why? Because Elon Musk-owned Tesla was earlier hunting for production space in India.
In fact, the brand had been in talks with Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan for setting up its India production facility.
However, the latest news confirmation of the company not coming to India for production is quite a bummer.
Meanwhile, the US-based EV maker has already established an office in India, as well as it has finalised the showroom spaces in the major tier-1 cities.
The government has also stated that it will soon roll out its new EV Policy, which will cut down the import tax on EVs from 70% to 15%, only if the brand agrees to invest $480 million in manufacturing EVs in India.
The latest EV policy will prove beneficial to other international brands such as Mercedes-Benz, which have been eyeing India for a long time to establish production facilities.
Our verdict
While there is no official statement from the government regarding the reason behind Tesla’s decision, it is clear that the American-based EV brands are not interested in coming to India for expansion soon.