Tesla has been making waves. It is the most-searched car company in China, and now news is that indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to take time out of his super-busy schedule to visit Tesla headquarters in California on his upcoming trip to the US.
But the question remains: Why? Is it just for show and fun, or is it for some specific purpose? TeslaMondo reports: “Because Tesla’s pornographically-named car is likely headed for India, says CIO Jay Vijayan.”
India has been making huge strides with regard to renewable energy. In fact, it’s renewable energy push may be the cleantech story of the year. But the other big sector that needs cleaning up (well, aside from our food chain…) is transportation. While China gets more attention for its dirty air, Delhi routinely “tops” Chinese cities in that regard. India needs EVs, and if you need EVs, you need the Big Daddy called Tesla. So, it’s quite likely Modi is eager to open some doors via a meeting with Mr Elon. Of course, Tesla needs something, too. TeslaMondo goes on:
India: Big automotive market, plenty of wealthy customers, smoggy air, lots of government “green” rhetoric that so far hasn’t grown teeth, and a problematic 100 percent import duty.
Tesla plans to chat with Indian officials about that duty. An Indian assembly plant might be the ticket. “We have identified India is one of the potential markets in Asia to have a local assembly plant, but we need a definite policy from the government to support electric vehicles in the future,” Vijayan told the Economic Times.
So that’s the story. We’ll see what comes of it.
Image: Modi giving the peace sign via, Nisarg Lakhmani / Shutterstock.com
Indian people are brilliant, would Tesla be able to keep their technology and not have employees leave to some Indian version of Tesla?