Mumbai: After nearly a decade of teasers, delays, and diplomatic dances, Elon Musk’s Tesla has finally touched down in India with its first showroom in Mumbai’s glitzy Bandra Kurla Complex. But while the glossy 4,000-square-foot “Experience Centre” may shine, the road ahead is anything but smooth. On offer is the Model Y, imported straight from Tesla’s Shanghai plant. Buyers can pick between a rear-wheel drive (RWD) version priced at ₹59.89 lakh and a long-range RWD model for ₹67.89 lakh.
Want to go all in?
Add Tesla’s full self-driving package for an additional ₹6 lakh. That’s nearly ₹74 lakh for a tech-packed import in a country where even premium EV adoption is still crawling.
Orders Open, But Only for a Few
Indian buyers in Delhi, Gurugram, and Mumbai can now place orders with a non-refundable ₹22,220 deposit. Deliveries of the base RWD variant are expected in the third quarter, while the long-range version will roll out by year-end.
That is, if Tesla’s notorious timeline doesn’t shift again.
The launch may look flashy, but it’s tactical. The company has committed to setting up four charging stations each in Mumbai and Delhi – crucial infrastructure in a country where range anxiety is still very real. A second showroom is already in the pipeline for Delhi, expected to open later this month.
Still No Local Factory, Despite Government Push
Tesla’s India journey has been anything but direct. Elon Musk’s 2016 tweet promising the Model 3 for Indian roads aged worse than most crypto portfolios. The company even collected $1,000 deposits back then, only to quietly refund them as launch delays piled up.
Behind closed doors, Tesla has been courted extensively. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has held several meetings with Musk and his executives.
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal revealed last year that Tesla aimed to double component sourcing from India to nearly $1.9 billion. Yet, the question remains: Where’s the factory?
According to India’s Heavy Industries Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Tesla has made it clear – it isn’t interested in local manufacturing anytime soon.
That makes this an import-only play for now, even as the government has eased import tariffs for electric vehicles to encourage foreign entrants.
Leadership Gaps and Global Challenges
Tesla’s India operations are in flux. The company doesn’t have a formal country head, following the departure of Prashanth Menon earlier this year. Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s global CFO, is currently overseeing India with the help of local board members covering HR, sales, and policy. Job listings in Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi suggest the company is hiring aggressively, but leadership continuity remains a question mark.
Globally, Tesla is not in top gear either. In Q2, deliveries dropped 6.8% year-over-year, marking the third consecutive quarterly decline. U.S. sales slid 13% in the first half of 2025, while European numbers dipped nearly 28% in May alone – Tesla’s fifth straight monthly drop on the continent. In China, Tesla faces stiff competition from BYD and other local players, even as China-made exports grew 16%.
The India debut seems like a calculated pivot as traditional strongholds wobble. But with no factory, limited infrastructure, and premium pricing, it’s unclear whether Tesla’s high-voltage dreams will sync with India’s grounded EV reality.
Will India Buy the Hype?
India is the world’s fourth-largest auto market, producing close to 6 million vehicles annually. But when it comes to EVs, two-wheelers dominate the scene.
Four-wheeled electric mobility remains a niche, with affordability, charging infrastructure, and consumer awareness all posing hurdles.
The government aims for 30% of all vehicle sales to be electric by 2030, a vision Tesla would love to capitalise on. But for now, the company’s bet on India feels more like dipping a toe than taking the plunge. Unless that long-rumoured India-EU trade agreement unlocks Berlin-made Teslas at scale, the showroom in BKC might remain more of a statement than a strategy.
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