• ‘Tesla will not put a manufacturing plant in any location where we are not allowed first to sell & service cars, ’ Musk says
• Indian government charges 100% import duty on vehicles manufactured abroad
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) chief executive Elon Musk on Friday said the electric carmaker would not set up a manufacturing facility in India until it is first allowed to sell and service cars in the country.
The news comes weeks after several reports said that the company put the plans to sell electric vehicles in India on hold after failing to secure lower import taxes.
“Tesla will not put a manufacturing plant in any location where we are not allowed first to sell & service cars,” Musk tweeted, responding to a tweet asking about an update on its manufacturing plant in India.
Tesla and the Indian government have been in talks for more than two years to evaluate a way for the world’s biggest electric carmaker to enter the world’s second-most populous nation.
While the carmaker sought to first test the demand for its EVs by selling the imported cars produced in the United States and China at lower tariffs, the government pushed Tesla to commit to manufacturing locally.
“If Elon Musk is ready to manufacture Tesla in India, then there is no problem,” India’s Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said at an event last month. But manufacturing cars in China and selling them in India is not a “good proposition.”
Moreover, the Indian government charges 100% import duty on vehicles produced outside the country and said if Tesla set up a manufacturing plant in the country, the government would lower the taxes.
Picture Credit: Teslaratti
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