Tesla's BKC Showroom: Many Bookings, But No Test Drives Yet
A customer came all the way from Hyderabad to book a Tesla for their company, and is now waiting for a test drive.
Tesla Inc.'s newly inaugurated showroom in Mumbai was buzzing with customers and curious window shoppers alike on Wednesday afternoon, a day after the company officially kicked off its India journey.
What started out as an experience center crowded with drenched media personnel, tight-lipped car salesmen and a handful of very stern bouncers caught up in a perfect storm of bad weather and poor event management, has now turned into a high-end showroom with three Model Ys occupying centre stage in the white, red and black variants.
Smartly-dressed salesmen are now smooth-talking affluent customers into understanding why the Model Y would be the next best thing in their ever-expanding collection of cars.
While still being media-shy, Tesla representatives at the showroom told NDTV Profit that the company has been getting booking across variants for the Model Y since it went live for the geography on the company website yesterday.
Upon being asked about the number of bookings, a store manager said, "Enough." They refused to elaborate beyond this.
But a quick look around the showroom corroborated the short answer. Customers were lining up at the two booking desks, waiting for their turn to confirm their new shiny electric cars. Sales representatives were busy taking groups of people around the three cars on display, explaining details like the range and features of the Elon Musk-led firm's cheapest model.
"I already have a Range Rover, Mercedes, Lexus, Mini Cooper and an Audi. I always felt like Tesla is a brand I should own," a Thane-based businessman who booked a long-range Model Y for himself told NDTV Profit. He said that he has also paid an additional Rs 6 lakh for the full self-drive feature despite not being able to use it anytime soon.
"I anyway don't think the FSD feature can be used in Mumbai. But I want to try it out on a highway, if that is possible some day," he said. He added that he tried buying the Model Y from Dubai a year earlier, but the pricing and logistics didn't work out in his favour.
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Another customer who booked a Tesla for himself said he booked the car for an initial payment of Rs 22,000 via a UPI transaction. The rest of the down payment of about Rs 3 lakh had to be completed within a week through a bank transfer.
"I don't own any other electric vehicle, but I was waiting for an official India launch of Tesla for proper servicing of the vehicle. I will have to wait a bit longer since the car will be delivered to us only by November," the second customer said.
But it's not just people from Mumbai who are in for a new Tesla-branded electric car. A customer came all the way from Hyderabad to book a Tesla for their company, and is now waiting for a test drive.
"I have been told that a test drive is not possible now. We will get a call from the company whenever the car is ready for the test drive," he said.
A Tesla employee at the showroom said that test drives for the cars will begin once the company meets internal compliances and enough orders are stacked up to make test drives viable.
Tesla's newly launched showroom in Mumbai's business district BKC has been seeing heavy footfall from buyers across India. The showroom has locked multiple deals, and the deliveries will begin after September 2025.
Model Y has been priced at Rs 61,07,190 on-road in Mumbai.
The top speed is pencilled in at 201 kmph and the vehicle can hit 100 kmph in 5.9 secs. The range of the vehicle is 500 km.
It is available in white and black interiors for the Indian market. The car will be available in six colours — Stealth Grey, Pearl White, Diamond Black, Glacier Blue, Ultra Red and Quick Silver. The pricing of the vehicle, as per the norm, will differ from colour to colour.
