After much anticipation, Tesla has finally launched in India. Despite being one of the largest auto markets, India had remained out of Tesla's reach—until now. But owing to huge tariffs, the Tesla models come with unreasonably high prices in the South Asian country.
In the past 5 years, multiple attempts were made to launch Elon Musk’s Tesla in India, but they all failed. Efforts in recent months, however, seem to have paid off.
India and Tesla reached a compromise while negotiating import duties on cars last year. The deal allowed for reduced import duties for a limited number of electric vehicles (EVs). The agreement was made on the condition that Tesla would make a substantial investment and commit to establish an electric vehicle factory in India within the coming years. The agreement finally opened the Indian market to one of the world’s leading EV makers.
Tesla has even started hiring service and sales staff and locking in deals on retail and service locations.
However, earlier this year, Tesla reportedly informed India that it no longer has plans to manufacture EVs in India. Thereby missing the chance to reduce import duties imposed by the US Government.
The Model Y RWD is being sold for ₹61,07,190 (~$71,000 USD) and the Model Y Long Range is ₹69,15,190 (~$80,000 USD).
The new stripped-down Model Y would’ve been cheaper in India, but they haven’t yet launched it in India. Even that version would cost around ₹51.5 lakh (~$60,000) if launched in India.
