American technology company Tesla Inc registered its Indian subsidiary called Tesla India Motors And Energy Private Limited and incorporated the company on 8th January 2021 n Bengaluru, Karnataka. The Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Mr Nitin Gadkari also confirmed that the clean energy company will be conducting business on the Indian soil but it was unknown which autonomous electric vehicle Tesla will bring to the Indian market upon its debut.
But now the company’s website source code list India under the Model 3 page leading us to believe that the company is getting ready to launch the Tesla Model 3 electric car in the Indian market. The list of countries in the source code of the official website has been upgraded with ‘India’ and its service code. If our speculations are true the brand’s first car for the Indian market will be the Tesla Model 3 which is Tesla’s entry-level fully electric vehicle.
Powering the Tesla Model 3 is a dual-motor all-wheel-drive system that is capable of propelling the car to a top speed of 260 kmph. The Tesla Model 3 also comes with a high-capacity battery pack that can return a range of 402 km on a single charge in the standard variant and 522 km per charge on the performance and long-range trims. The all-wheel-drive system also features a digital torque control system that provides optimum traction to all four wheels.
While Tesla has not even hinted which car the brand plans to bring to the Indian market first, it is likely that if the brand brings its products to India it may take the CBU (Completely Built-Up) route at least in the beginning. This means even the entry-level Model 3 which costs USD 33,690 for the standard variant and USD 50,690 for the top-spec Performance trim in the North American market which translates to approximately INR 25 lakh and INR 37 lakh as the base price plus the cost of import, taxes and customs duties will make the electric car a luxury purchase in India.