Along with China, India is one of the markets with the greatest potential in the world. With a population close to 1,400 million people, all brands seek to offer their products in the country. Tesla is one of them, although it finally seems that it will not be like that. After a tough negotiation with the Government of the nation, the American company has shelved the idea of selling cars in India. At least that is what different sources claim.
Although only 55% of the Indian population owns a car, it is a vast market where potential sales are a more than justified reason to embark on a commercial adventure. With an impressive source of workmanship, the Indian government has long wanted to attract manufacturers under the “made in India” campaign. The idea of the government is that the brands that want to have tax benefits must commit to deriving production to the eastern country.
At no time have Tesla’s plans gone through opening a new Gigafactory in India. The costs and the situation of the electricity market are not yet interesting to take such a step. Those of Austin have been negotiating with the Indian Government to obtain certain tax advantages in the tariffs of imported carssomething that neither the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, nor the Minister of Transport, Nitin Gadkari, has liked, who has come to declare that Tesla’s offer “was not a good proposal.”
According to ReutersTesla had set February 1 as the final trading deadline, although they have been looking for alternatives until just a few days ago when the operation was finally dismissed. Elon Musk himself acknowledged in January: “they are still working on many challenges with the Government”. Such have been the challenges that the proposal has not come to fruition and has forced Tesla to cancel commercialization plans, at least for the time being.
Tesla’s proposal was to import cars manufactured in the United States and China, managing to reduce import tariffs to offer more attractively priced products. In India, a Tesla Model 3 is considered a luxury car given its high price, since we must not forget that it is a market dominated by Tata Motors, a specialist in designing and manufacturing very cheap and poor quality cars.
At the moment neither Tesla nor the Indian Government have commented on all this. It looks like, Tesla is relocating part of its displaced team to the country. The search for locations for the points of sale, which initially were to be located in the main cities of the country such as Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi, has also been paralyzed. Who knows if in a few months or years Tesla will try again, but without a doubt, India has become one of the first countries in the world not to bow down to the American giant.
