 "'Next year for sure': Elon Musk indicates date for Tesla's India entry")
Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk (pictured) indicated on Friday that the US electric carmaker would make a foray into India in 2021.
"Next year for sure," Musk said on Twitter in reply to a post with a photograph of a T-shirt with the message: "India wants Tesla". "Thanks for waiting," Musk said.
Last year, too, the chief of Tesla had commented about coming to India, in response to someone on Twitter who asked "What about India sir?".
"Would love to be there this year. If not, definitely next!" he had said in March 2019.
In July 2019, too, he had commented that he would love to come to India “probably... in a year’s time”.
But in August last year, Musk made a U-turn and said bringing Teslas to the country would be difficult as import duties were high and that would make Teslas unaffordable. “For other countries, we pay in part for the local factory by selling cars there ahead of time. Also, gives a sense of demand. Current rules in India prevent that, but recent changes in sales tax give hope for future changes,” he had tweeted.
Tesla recently announced the company was planning to build a $25,000 car by 2023.
The cheaper car would come from cutting the cost of batteries in half, Musk said, based on a series of innovations that include using dry electrode technology and making the battery a structural element of the car.
“This has always been our dream from the very beginning,” Musk said at the event showcasing Tesla’s battery technology. “In about three years from now, we are confident we can make a compelling $25,000 electric vehicle that is also fully autonomous.”
Tesla's entry in the Indian market could come at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is increasingly becoming focused on promoting the use and manufacture of electric vehicles.
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