Tesla makes India debut with upscale showroom launch
In the Bandra-Kurla Complex, an upscale business centre in the financial capital Mumbai, the showroom will serve as Tesla's flagship retail and experience outlet as the company introduces its EV line-up to Indian customers.
Tesla's entry to India comes after years of delays and policy friction, marking a pivotal expansion in a fast-growing consumer base while global sales are plunging and the company faces challenges in its two core markets, China and the US.
Sales of Tesla electric cars fell sharply from April to June as boycotts over tech billionaire Elon Musk's political views continued keeping buyers away.
For India, Tesla's entry signals rising investor confidence and strengthens its move towards clean mobility.
The country's nascent electric vehicle market made up a little more than two per cent of total car sales in 2024.
But the government wants to change that and increase the electric vehicle share to 30 per cent by 2030.
Tesla will begin by importing and selling its popular Y model cars in India.
The base price would be 6.78 million rupees ($A120,000) for the long-range, rear-wheel drive vehicle, according to a presentation by the company during the showroom launch on Tuesday.
By comparison, the price tag is about $US44,990 ($A69,000) in the US without a federal tax credit.
The rear-wheel drive will sell for about six million rupees in India.
Delivery was expected to start from the third quarter, Tesla officials said.
Tesla's higher pricing is likely to make its cars unaffordable for most Indians.
Tesla will compete mostly with German luxury car makers such as BMW and Mercedes Benz Group AG, and not budget Indian players such as Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra.
The luxury car market makes up just about one per cent of total vehicle sales
The debut by American EV giant, however, would bring in world-class technology to the country, auto analysts said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has wooed Tesla for years for its global brand value and to boost the country's clean energy endeavours.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘MechaHitler': Why Elon Musk's chatbot is at the centre of an Australian legal dispute
Australia's online safety watchdog is back in court this week, battling Elon Musk's X over issues of AI, free speech and who is ultimately responsible for detecting and removing violent online content. What is Grok AI, and why has it been controversial? Elon Musk's AI chatbot, dubbed Grok, is embedded in X (formerly Twitter) and has made headlines for numerous controversies – as well as for winning a $US200 million ($300 million) contract with the Pentagon. It's arguably more capable at present than ChatGPT and Gemini, but has proven much more unpredictable too. Last week, Grok declared itself a super-Nazi, referring to itself as 'MechaHitler', and made racist, sexist and antisemitic posts that its parent company, xAI, later deleted. Musk has said he wants Grok to 'not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect', and this seems to be the result. Then, just days later, xAI launched a girlfriend chatbot that is available to 12-year-olds, despite being programmed to engage in sexual conversation. Loading The sexualised AI chatbot, named Ani, communicates with emojis and flirtatious messages and can appear dressed in lingerie. It's designed to act as if it is 'crazy in love' and 'extremely jealous', according to programming instructions posted on social media. Despite all this, xAI announced it had won a contract worth up to $US200 million to develop artificial intelligence tools for the US Department of Defence. If the chaos proves anything, it's that AI chatbots such as Grok are moving incredibly quickly, and regulators and governments are racing to catch up.
Perth Now
5 hours ago
- Perth Now
Arsenal break world record for women's soccer transfer
Canada forward Olivia Smith has become the most expensive player in women's soccer history after Arsenal signed her from Liverpool for a reported one million pounds ($A2.1 million). The new benchmark would surpass the 900,000 pounds ($A1.9 million) Chelsea paid when signing Naomi Girma from the San Diego Wave in January. Smith's four-year deal highlights the increase in spending in women's soccer, with transfer records regularly broken. Zambia striker Rachael Kundananji joined Bay FC from Madrid CFF for a record $US788,000 ($A1.2 million) last year, and that figure was quickly exceeded by Girma's move to Chelsea. As recently as 2020, the most expensive women's player was Denmark's Pernille Harder, who joined Chelsea from Wolfsburg for $US355,000 ($A549,000). The 20-year-old Smith has rapidly risen since developing in the US college system. Smith joined Sporting Clube in Portugal in 2023 and scored 16 goals in 28 appearances in her debut season. She moved to Liverpool last year and scored nine times in 25 games. Smith is also Canada's youngest international after making her debut at the age of 15 in 2019. "Olivia is an exciting young player and we believe she can make a big contribution here at Arsenal," the club's head coach Renee Slegers said on Thursday. "We've been impressed by her mentality and character, excelling in two European leagues at such a young age." Arsenal are 15-time English champions and won the Champions League for the second time in their history this year. Three Australians - Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross - were part of the winning side. Despite Chelsea being the dominant force in women's soccer in England, Arsenal are the only English team to win the Champions League. "It's my dream to compete for the biggest titles here in England and in Europe, and I'm excited to get started and contribute to doing that here with Arsenal," Smith said.
News.com.au
9 hours ago
- News.com.au
US senators approve $9 billion of Elon Musk's federal cuts
The US Senate approved early Thursday a package of spending cuts proposed by President Donald Trump that would cancel more than $9 billion in funding for foreign aid programs and public broadcasting. The upper chamber of Congress green-lit the measure in what was seen as the first test of how easily lawmakers could usher into law savings sought by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) -- in the aftermath of the tech mogul's acrimonious exit from the government. Despite the cutbacks' unpopularity in some sections of both parties, the Republican-led Senate passed the measure with 51 votes for and 48 against in a session that went more than two hours past midnight. The version of the text passed in June by the House of Representatives sought to eliminate $400 million in funding allocated to health programs, including the PEPFAR global AIDS relief fund created by then-president George W. Bush. But defunding PEPFAR -- which has saved an estimated 26 million lives -- was seen as a nonstarter among a handful of moderate Republican senators, and the proposal was dropped. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham told AFP the bill was consistent with Trump's promises to cut spending. "I've been a big fan of the foreign aid accounts... I'm a big hawkish guy, but you need foreign aid. You need soft power," he said. "But when you start spending money on a bunch of junk, and liberal programs disconnected from the purpose of the aid package, it makes it difficult on a guy like me." The bill now goes back to the House for final approval, with lawmakers up against the clock. Congress, which had already allocated the money, has to approve the cuts by Friday or the White House must spend the cash as originally intended. Legislation to claw back money already approved by Congress -- known as a "rescissions package" -- is extremely rare, and no such measure has passed in decades. - 'Surrendering powers' - Around a dozen Republicans had voiced concerns about allowing the White House to dictate spending cuts, placing them in the crosshairs of Trump, who last week threatened to withhold his endorsements from any rebels. The vote was the first in what Republicans have touted as a potential series of packages codifying the spending cuts made by DOGE. Musk was tapped by Trump to lead the task force after the tech billionaire spent $290 million helping him get elected. The SpaceX and Tesla boss boasted that he would be able to save $2 trillion in federal spending -- but left the White House under a cloud in late May as he feuded with Trump over deficits and spending. DOGE acknowledges that it has saved taxpayers just $190 billion -- and fact checkers even see that claim as dubious, given previous inaccuracies in its accounting. The rescissions package slashes around $8 billion in foreign aid, with much of that approved for humanitarian organization USAID, one of DOGE's first targets. Around $1 billion is to be taken back from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), as well as more than 1,500 local radio and television stations. Conservatives often accuse PBS and NPR of bias, and Trump signed an executive order in May to cease federal funding for both networks. Democrats say cutting the funding will not meaningfully reduce the deficit, but instead dismantle a trusted source of information for millions of Americans. "It is yet another example of the spirit and ideals of our Constitution being undermined in a terrible way. We are a nation that believes that (Congress) has a real role," New Jersey Senator Cory Booker told AFP. "And this is a bunch of my colleagues in thrall of the president, surrendering the powers of us, and the urgency for us to work together and do it in a bipartisan way to improve budgets."
