Tesla Inc. is all set to enter the Indian market officially sometime by mid-June 2021 and the company has been scouting for locations for its headquarters and dealerships. While a previous report stated that the company plans to have three dealerships in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru respectively, a recent report now tells us that the headquarters will be established in Mumbai.
Tesla plans to open its main office at the One World Centre in the corporate district of Lower Parel in the city, which also houses a number of banks, media houses, among other businesses. The commercial space in Lower Parel is reportedly about 40,000 sq.ft. in size and will only be the office. The transaction of the lease space is currently underway and likely to be closed soon after due diligence.
According to earlier reports, Tesla India was registered in Bengaluru earlier in the year and the company appointed Manuj Khurana as Head – Policy and Business Development for the domestic operations. Khurana, an IIM Bengaluru alumni is responsible for setting up the company’s base here, along with Nishant Prasad, who has been appointed as the Charging Manager and will be responsible for setting up the charging infrastructure, supercharger network and home charging business. Prasad previously worked with homegrown electric vehicle start-up Ather Energy for its charging infrastructure and Energy Storage. The American automaker has also appointed Chithra Thomas as the country’s HR leader and has previously worked at Walmart and Reliance Retail.
Sources suggest Tesla is looking to set up dealerships that will be about 20,000-30,000 sq.ft. The dealership space will include a massive display area along with a service centre. Considering the three showrooms will be the brand’s first prime real estate, the electric carmaker is likely to go all out and make a bold statement about its electrification technology, cars, safety, autonomous driving tech and more.
Tesla is likely to introduce the Model 3 – its most affordable electric sedan in the country first. The Tesla Model X, Model S, and Model Y are likely to follow in the later months. The models will come to the country as Completely Built Units (CBU). The cars will compete against luxury electric offerings like the Mercedes-Benz EQC and the Jaguar I-Pace.
Source: ETAuto.com
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