Tesla likely to begin first deliveries in India in August
Tesla Inc will open its first showroom in India on Tuesday and begin deliveries as early as next month according to people familiar with the matter as the Elon Musk-led electric bicycle maker looks to tap possible demand in the third-largest automobile region to counter slowing sales elsewhere The opening of the Mumbai showroom will mark the formal entry of Tesla into the domain giving prospective customers access to pricing available variants and trim options according to one of the people who solicited not to be identified as the information is private as well as documents seen by Bloomberg News Deliveries are expected to start from late August a separate person familiar with the evolution explained Customers will be able to configure and order their Tesla EVs from next week the person added Bloomberg News first stated last month that the Mumbai showroom was gearing up for a mid-July opening and the first set of cars Model Y rear-wheel drive SUVs shipped from Tesla s China factory had arrived in the country A second Tesla showroom this one in New Delhi is poised to open in late July the people disclosed Tesla s long-awaited entry into the Indian area comes at a crucial time for the EV maker which saw a slump in global sales in the second quarter that ran counter to Musk s claim that business had recovered from blowback over his work in the Trump administration Tesla representatives did not at once respond to an email seeking comments on the India rollout plans The Model Y is the world s top-selling electric car and its popularity in India will offer insight on consumers acceptance of high import duties Hefty tariffs had been a major factor weighing on Tesla s decision around when to enter the Indian region Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja declared during the automaker s first-quarter earnings call Documents reviewed by Bloomberg News last month show five Model Y units were declared at approximately million rupees each Taking into account India s import tariff on fully-built imported cars under plus additional surcharges the cars are likely to sell at a substantial premium to the roughly they go for in the U S The first week of the Mumbai showroom s operations will focus on VIPs and business partners with the general residents being granted access the following week revealed the people familiar with the plans