Responding to a Twitter user on Saturday, 24 July, business magnate Elon Musk said that he wanted to bring electric cars to India but was struggling to meet the custom duties imposed by the Indian government, which Musk believes are by far the highest in the world.
A Twitter user and YouTuber Madan Gowri posted a picture of a shiny Tesla Model S Plaid and tagged Musk. He tweeted: “Dear @elonmusk please launch Tesla cars in India ASAP!".
Reacting to the fans request, Musk said, "We want to do so, but import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country! Moreover, clean energy vehicles are treated the same as diesel or petrol, which does not seem entirely consistent with the climate goals of India."
"But we are hopeful that there will be at least a temporary tariff relief for electric vehicles. That would be much appreciated. If Tesla is able to succeed with imported vehicles, then a factory in India is quite likely," Musk tweeted on the same thread.
It is worth noting that while Tesla has been looking at India as a potential spot for a gigafactory or battery production, its biggest challenge is to be successful in India in the production of a cost-effective Tesla.
OLA's Bhavish Aggarwal Strongly Disagrees With Musk
Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder, Ola, seems to 'strongly disagree' with Musk's statement on import duties.
Aggarwal in a statement said, "Let’s have confidence in our ability to build indigenously and also attract global OEMs to build in India, not just import." "We won't be the first country to do so."
Meanwhile, Seon Seob Kim, Managing Director and CEO, Hyundai Motor India, backed Tesla's call for lower duties in India on imported electric vehicles.
"We have heard that Tesla is seeking some duty cut on imports of CBUs. So that would be very helpful for the OEMs to reach some economy of scale in this very price competitive segment," Kim said.
Kim added that lower duties in India will help "grow the EV market".
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