It seems like it is finally happening. We have been talking about Tesla’s entry into the Indian market for literally years now and once again, talks of the brand making its way to India in 2021 are doing the rounds.
But the hype this time around is bigger than ever and the reason for that is Indian Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has reportedly confirmed that yes, Tesla is indeed coming to India in 2021. Additionally, Gadkari has said that the first lot of cars that will be sold in India by Tesla will be sold as Completely Built-up Units, or CBU in short.
And well, this is about all that is confirmed as about now, with the timeline for Tesla’s India entry being said to be ‘early 2021.’
However, this information is enough for us to make an educated guess as to what their first car will be in India and how much would it cost. First as foremost, what needs to be mentioned is the fact that CBUs that are sold in India comes with a 100 percent import duty levied onto them.
So, whichever Tesla car that comes here first will have this duty levied onto it. Unless, the government decides to hand out some concessions to Tesla given its push for electric vehicles, but there is no official word on that as of now.
So given that such a heavy-duty tax will be levied on Tesla, the American electric car company would want to have the best odds for themselves and as a result, would want to come out with a product that allows them to have an as aggressive price tag as possible. This means the car will most likely be the Tesla Model 3 – their most accessible car in the world.
