Tesla has finally opened its shop in India and while the excitement is high amongst fans from India, the wait has been the longest for some Indian entrepreneurs who booked their Tesla almost 9 years ago. Among this highly elite group are Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar and GOQii CEO Vishal Gondal, who paid the booking amount of USD 1,000 back in 2016 for the Model 3 sedan!
Venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy and Voonik CEO Sujayath Ali also joined the select few to book their Tesla EVs back in 2016, says another media report.
With Tesla beginning its sales in India now, these entrepreneurs, along with lakhs of enthusiast buyers will get to fulfil their dreams of owning and driving a Tesla vehicle. Tesla’s entry in India has long been the topic of discussions, with its founder Elon Musk engaging in talks with the Indian government to subsidise the EV imports in the country. The Indian government, on the other hand, has always requested Musk to set up an assembly shop in India, just like other foreign luxury car manufacturers.
With the new EV policy in place, it seems that Tesla’s interest aligned to an extent. At the moment, Tesla has an office in India and it is going to import its vehicles from foreign countries. The first vehicle from the American EV brand is the Model Y SUV, the bookings for which have started already. The Model Y is being offered in two variants – a rear-wheel drive model with a price tag of Rs 60.1 lakh and a long-range variant with a sticker price of Rs 67.8 lakh.
To provide a reliable infrastructure, Tesla is also bringing its Supercharger network to major urban centres of India soon, with Mumbai and Delhi NCR set to get Supercharger stations in the coming months.
Sadly, for the Paytm and GOQii founders, the Model 3 sedan is yet to make its appearance in India, although the launch won’t take much time. The Model 3 and Model Y share their platforms. What remains to be seen is whether Tesla brings the Model S sedan, the Model X SUV and the Cybertruck pickup in the coming years in India.
