The world’s most successful electric car manufacturer, Tesla Motors, is looking forward to enter the Indian market, with its new sedan, which will be priced almost at half its current value. Though the top officials said that the nation’s high import duty charges are a big obstacle, Tesla is eager to enter the Indian market. It is working on its third-generation car, a more affordable and smaller four-door sedan, which has been codenamed Tesla Model 3.
Jay Vijayan, Chief Information Officer at the Tesla Motors, said in a statement, "Our target price for Model 3 is in the range of $30,000 to $40,000 (approximately 18-24 lakh INR) that makes it an ideal product in the luxury car segment. India is a huge potential market, but we need to have more affordable and economical cars. India has one of the highest import duty in the world — in excess of 100% — that goes against our principal of importing car directly from our plants at Freemont in the US or the assembly unit in Netherlands."
He also said, “We have identified India is one of the potential markets in Asia to have a local assembly plant, but we need a definite policy from the government to support electric vehicles in the future.” Tesla is also looking forward to go into talks with the Indian Government to make the import rates a bit more rational. It is currently selling Model S in two nations in Asia. Over 5000 cars have been sold in China and around 2000 in Japan. India automatically becomes a third destination as it comes right after these two countries.
Vijayan said, "Tesla is not just a conventional electric car, but a full-scale motoring experience, that zooms 0-100 km per hour in mere 3.4 seconds and delivers the highest 500-km range on a single electric charge." Electric cars have not been able to make such an impact as o now in the market. Lack of infrastructure, higher price tags and limited drivability are the major factors leading to its non-popularity.
