Elon Musk “hoping” to launch Tesla in India this year

Last year, Elon Musk had confirmed that Tesla would eventually make its way in to the Indian market but hadn’t divulged any sort of timeline. However, replying to a question by Ishan Goel on twitter yesterday, Musk confirmed that he is hoping for a summer launch this year.

Musk has not confirmed what products will make it to the country yet, but you can count on the entry-level Model 3 being sold here. Tesla has currently put its production facility in California on hold to prepare it for the high volumes expected of the Model 3. Production is expected to start in July and if Musk’s timeline is to be believed, Tesla’s India launch will be before the Model 3 roll-out. So it looks like the Model S and Model X are headed our way as well, but they will be exorbitantly priced. This Model 3 will be far cheaper —it costs $35,000 which roughly converts to little over Rs 23 lakh, however being a CBU, expect the price in India to be much higher, around the Rs 50 lakh mark.

Crucial to the success of Tesla in India will be its network of chargers. Musk confirmed (through another tweet) last year that India will be host to a country-wide Supercharger network. Superchargers are essentially charging stations that can charge up Tesla cars with up to 270km of range in around 30 minutes.

Not too many more details are known of Tesla’s future in India, but last year, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari invited the US based company to make India its manufacturing hub in Asia . Tesla haven’t taken up the offer yet, but did say they would keep it in mind when expanding operations.