Tesla Motors, an American automotive and energy storage company that designs, manufactures, and sells luxury electric cars is all set to set its foot in Indian market.
Tesla has unveiled $35,000 Model 3 car, one of its most affordable, on Friday morning at the company's design studio in Hawthorne, California. Tesla's founder & CEO Elon Musk tweeted that his company has identified India as a market for Tesla Model 3 Car.
Adding several more countries to Model 3 order page tonight. Check for details, but will include India, Brazil, SA, SK, NZ, Sing & Ireland.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2016
The Model 3 cars will go into production in late 2017. Tesla is accepting a token of USD 1,000 for pre-orders for the Model 3 and had received over 115,000 orders for the car before its launch. Musk on stage claimed that the Model 3 will have a range of 215 miles (approx 350 kilometers) on a single charge and the company would work to improve that by the time the car hits the road.
Meet Model 3 – Make your reservation at https://t.co/8uVlhvzpu5 #Model3https://t.co/NdyGLgoW0D
— Tesla Motors (@TeslaMotors) April 1, 2016
The company said once the production starts, deliveries will begin in North America.
When the production is ramped up, deliveries in Europe, Asia-Pacific region and right-hand drive markets will happen.
Last year, on September 27, PM Modi visited Tesla Motors facility in Silicon Valley, US.
The Model 3, if imported into India as a complete built unit (CBU), will attract 125% customs duty and would be priced around Rs 50 lakh, equivalent to the basic version cost of Mercedes-Benz E class saloon.
Notably, this isn't the first rendezvous of Tesla with India. Last year, Musk had tweeted that setting up a Gigafactory in India would make sense in the long term given the country's renewable energy needs.
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