Tesla Inc chief executive Elon Musk on Friday indicated India entry of the electric car company in 2021.
In a reply to a post with photograph of a T-shirt with the message, “India wants Tesla, ” Musk wrote, “Next year for sure.”
The Twitter handle that goes by the name ‘Tesla Club India’ also wrote, “Hey Elon, just thought we’d put this out here. We wait and hang on to hope wrt “hopefully soon” for India Tesla entry. Woud love to hear of any progress in this regard. ” “Yeah,” Elon responded to the tweet.
At a time when a handful of foreign investors are foraying into Indian market, Tesla’s entry will not come as a surprise. The possible investement will also be interesting to see amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s continuous promotion of use and manufacture of electric vehicles in the country.
This is not the first time when Musk has suggested an India entry. In 2019, the Tesla CEO had said that he wants to be in the country by 2020. However, the plan was not materialsied.
In company’s defense, it can be assumed that the coronavirus pandemic has set every industry including auto sector into back foot. Foraying into a completely new market amid the pandemic could have been difficult challenge for the company. Hopefully, Tesla considers the plan after the world gets done with the coronavirus pandemic.
India’s already reeling auto sector by slow market was further pushed backward by the covid-19 pandemic.
India’s automakers warned total automobile sales could fall as much as 45% in the current fiscal year in a worst-case scenario as economic growth slumps due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Tesla plans to have new Gigafactories up and operating next year — one in Austin, Texas and another in Berlin. While the former will be responsible for handling Cybertruck production and assemble the Model Y SUV for east cost in the US, the latter would play a crucial part for Tesla’s expansion in Europe.
