Tesla, A Passage To India

I say “impending” because not even Musk can ignore the world’s third largest automotive industry, with one of the lowest car-to-people ratios. It’s 32 for every 1,000, just FYI.

On Feb. 18, Tesla listed on its careers page 13 job openings for sales and service in Mumbai and Delhi. An additional engineering job was listed for Pune. That put the news cycle into overdrive.

In a little over 24 hours, Tesla has decided on the route to enter India (CBU and not CKD), identified locations to set up its first showrooms, (Aerocity Delhi and BKC Mumbai), scouted for land to set up local manufacturing operations (Pune, most likely), and even identified a local partner (Tata Motors). We also “know” what cars will come first (Model Y), and when.

It’s a little too much, if you ask me. But it’s justified.

I say “impending” because not even Musk can ignore the world’s third largest automotive industry, with one of the lowest car-to-people ratios. It’s 32 for every 1,000, just FYI.

On Feb. 18, Tesla listed on its careers page 13 job openings for sales and service in Mumbai and Delhi. An additional engineering job was listed for Pune. That put the news cycle into overdrive.

In a little over 24 hours, Tesla has decided on the route to enter India (CBU and not CKD), identified locations to set up its first showrooms, (Aerocity Delhi and BKC Mumbai), scouted for land to set up local manufacturing operations (Pune, most likely), and even identified a local partner (Tata Motors). We also “know” what cars will come first (Model Y), and when.

It’s a little too much, if you ask me. But it’s justified.

After all, India is the final frontier of sorts for global carmakers battling a Chinese invasion at home. We are buying more larger and pricier cars than ever before, exporting world-class cars to countries that taught us manufacturing, and aren’t even averse to electric mobility: EV sales in India grew by a fifth last year, even as they shrunk in the West.

That’s hard to ignore, even for Musk.

An India entry can be a shot in the arm for Tesla, that’s battling slow sales in the US. The company posted its first annual drop in EV sales in over a decade. China makes a third of this annual sales, sure, but that’s in direct conflict with US President Donald Trump’s ‘Make in America’ policy. ‘Make in India’ still works, for the bonhomie that Modi and Trump share.

Still, all of this can disappear in an instant, like it did last year.

On April 20, 2024, Elon Musk cancelled his long-awaited visit to India, where he was due to meet Modi, citing heavy obligations at Tesla. “Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year,” he had posted on X then. 

That, when India laid out a red carpet of sorts with its new EV manufacturing policy last year. Now, we have reduced import duty on high-end cars. It remains to be seen whether Musk takes the bait (or makes the bet, your call) this time around. 

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“Bring it on, Tesla.” Mahindra Group CEO Anish Shah said this at the first NDTV Profit Conclave in Mumbai on Tuesday, Feb. 18. “Our products speak for themselves.” That’s what he actually said.

No doubts there, honestly.

On Feb. 14, Mahindra said that more than 30,000 electric SUVs worth nearly a billion dollars were booked on the first day. That compares with the nearly one lakh electric cars that were sold in India in all of 2024.

While 56% of the bookings were for the feature-loaded and luxurious XEV 9e, the remaining 44% were for the sportier yet cheaper BE 6. About 73% of the bookings were for the top-end variants of both models. Deliveries of these electric SUVs will start in mid-March.

“India has the ability to manufacture at scale and at lower cost...Our EVs that have come in are entirely manufactured in India,” Shah said at the NDTV Profit conclave, when asked if Tesla’s impending India entry would make a difference.

“We are still around,” Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said  separately on X.