Tesla Too Late?
There's a tide in the affairs of men… Brutus says in Julius Caesar. Elon Musk, who's quoted from The Tempest before, might have heard. His Tesla 'took the current' on Tuesday to launch its India operation. The world's largest manufacturer of battery-electric cars – Chinese BYD was a sliver behind in 2024 – now has a showroom in Mumbai, and little more. Reports say six fully built Tesla Model Ys are on the way from Shanghai. On-road prices start around ₹61L, putting the midsize SUV in the luxury segment, where the likes of Mercedes, BMW and Volvo will keep it company. But this segment amounted to only 50,000 units last year, of which 75% were petrol or diesel vehicles. And sales in the first six months of 2025 have been weak. Tesla's fighting for a pie that amounts to 10,000-12,000 units per year, and analysts expect it to sell not more than 200-300 units per month. Which, considering that it sold about 1.8mn cars globally in 2024, is nothing.
So, what's Musk's plan really? Some see it as an attempt to gauge the Indian market. As far as brand-building goes, Tesla is too well-known already. Back in 2016, when it was a much smaller company, and Musk's net worth was less than $12bn, Indian tycoons proudly announced they had booked the newly launched Model 3 online. The cars didn't materialise, but fans kept the faith. Musk also maintained India was on his mind: 'Hoping for summer this year (2017)'. Winter arrived, and one man imported a model X on his own – its eight-year battery warranty would be running out now. So, brand strength has never been Tesla's problem. What it needs is a business plan, and 10 years ago Musk had a stronger one. 'Given high local demand, a Gigafactory in India would probably make sense in the long term,' he tweeted in Oct 2015, years before he set up that factory in Shanghai instead. It was a good idea, which, 'taken at the flood' may have led to better fortune for both India and Musk.
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This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
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