Tesla's first India showroom opens next week
Tesla will open its first showroom in India on Tuesday and begin deliveries as early as next month, people familiar with the matter said, as the Elon Musk-led electric vehicle maker looks to tap potential demand in the third-largest automobile market to counter slowing sales elsewhere.
The opening of the Mumbai showroom will mark the formal entry of Tesla into the market, giving prospective customers access to pricing, available variants, and trim options, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private, as well as documents seen by Bloomberg.
Deliveries are expected to start from late Aug, a separate person familiar with the development said. Customers will be able to configure and order their Tesla EVs from next week, the person added.
Bloomberg first reported last month that the Mumbai showroom was gearing up for a mid-July opening and the first set of cars — Model Y rear-wheel drive SUVs shipped from Tesla's China factory — had arrived in the country.
A second Tesla showroom — this one in New Delhi — is poised to open in late July, the people said.
Tesla's long-awaited entry into the Indian market comes at a crucial time for the EV maker, which saw a slump in global sales in the second quarter that ran counter to Musk's claim that business had recovered from blowback over his work in the Trump administration.
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