Since deliveries began in mid-September, Tesla has registered just over 100 vehicles in India.
The company secured 600 orders between mid-July and the end of August, Bloomberg reported in September.
Despite a slow sales start, Tesla recently opened its largest sales and service hub in the country — its first full-scale experience centre in Gurugram, Haryana.
The site is based at Orchid Business Park in Sector 48, and adds to the already existing two locations in India’s main cities.
Tesla officially arrived in India in mid-July, with its first showroom in the Bandra Kurla Complex business center, in Mumbai.
A few weeks later, the company opened a second location at the IGI Airport, New Dheli.
Low Running Costs
Speaking at the launch event on Wednesday, the brand’s General Manager in the country, Sharad Agarwal, highlighted the low running costs of owning a Tesla.
The Model Y’s starting price in India hits $70,000 due to the country’s duty of 110% on imported vehicles priced over $40,000.
Despite lower tariffs on local production, Tesla does not intend to manufacture in India.
In addition, vehicles are subject to city-specific taxes. In Mumbai, the vehicle has a “on-road” pricing of ₹61,07,190 ($71,200), while in Gurugram, the pricing goes up to ₹66,76,831 ($77,800).
However, Agarwal believes Indian buyers could recover about one-third of the price tag over four to five years, considering Tesla‘s low-maintenance costs and electricity versus petrol prices.
“Tesla does not provide a maintenance schedule because most of the service is done remotely through software updates which reduces the cost of ownership,” the country chief noted.
Furthermore, “the cost of home charging is one tenth of petrol prices.”
Charging Infrastructure
Tesla will focus on strengthening India’s electric vehicle ecosystem, believing this will help sustain and grow its sales in the country.
Agarwal said on Wednesday that the company is “receiving overwhelming support from government to build infrastructure,” with plans to rapidly expand its charging network across the country.
“We will setup V4 Supercharger at One Horizon in Gurugram, South Mumbai and Navi Mumbai soon,” he added.
In August, Tesla launched its first charging station at One BKC in Mumbai, featuring four V4 Superchargers and four destination chargers.
In addition to public charging, the company will offer a home charging programme starting at ₹22,500 (about $250).
Tesla also intends to expand its charging footprint in shopping centres, tourist destinations, and other high-traffic areas.
Order Intake
Bloomberg reported in September that the brand had received 600 vehicle orders between mid-July and the end of August, ahead of the start of deliveries.
To fulfill these, the US brand plans to ship 350 to 500 vehicles to India by the end of 2025, based on the fully paid orders it has secured so far.
However, and up until the end of October, only about 100 vehicles had been registered — about 60 in September and 40 more last month.
Tesla had originally planned to use its full annual import quota of 2,500 units, but reduced this number after demand fell short of expectations.
