Elon Musk’s Tesla had set up an R&D unit in Bengaluru, Karnataka
Bengaluru:
American electric car giant Tesla’s first manufacturing unit in India will be set up in Karnataka, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said in a statement. He made the announcement in a statement that appreciated the benefits Karnataka got from the Union Budget.
“American firm Tesla will open its electric car manufacturing unit in Karnataka,” Mr Yediyurappa said in a statement in Kannada.
He also said an industrial corridor will be set up in Tumkur district, neighbouring Bengaluru, at a cost of Rs 7,725 crore.
The American electric car maker owned by Elon Musk entered India in January by registering as a company in Bengaluru. Tesla has set up a research and development unit in the city.
The regulatory filing of Tesla Motors India and Energy Pvt Ltd, incorporated on January 8 with its registered office in Bengaluru, shows the Indian unit has three directors including David Feinstein, who is currently a senior executive at Tesla, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Before Tesla’s arrival in India, Elon Musk had tweeted several times in recent years about his India plans. In October last year, he had said, “Next year for sure” in reply to a post with a photograph of a T-shirt with the message: “India wants Tesla”.
A blog on the Tesla fan site Tesmanian, to which Elon Musk once replied in a tweet, explained Tesla’s focus on a “wealthy segment” in a country where there are vast economic disparities.
“Many people assume that if most of the country’s population is poor, then there is no market for Tesla. However, they need to understand that the company is not aimed at selling cars to the entire population of India. In fact, out of 1.387 billion people, the producer is targeting a smaller (relative to the entire population), but a rather wealthy segment of the population,” it says.
The first Tesla product to be sold in India will be the Model 3 sedan, according to reports.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)