Billionaire Elon Musk-led Tesla Inc has decided on Karnataka for setting up its factory to make electric cars India, according to the state government.
“The U.S. firm Tesla will be opening an electric car manufacturing unit in Karnataka,” the state government said in a brief statement.
Last month, the US electric carmaker incorporated Tesla Motors India and Energy Private Limited with its registered office in Bengaluru, which is referred to as India’s Silicon valley.
State Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa had then said in a tweet, which was subsequently deleted, that Tesla would start its operations in India with an R&D unit in Bengaluru.
Elon Musk had reacted to this development with a two-word tweet : "As promised," in a thread linking to a blog that says Tesla cars will be expensive but may eventually become more affordable for the Indian middle class when the company starts production.
Musk has tweeted several times about the company’s plans to enter the Indian market. In December, the Tesla CEO confirmed in an exchange on Twitter that Tesla will launch its India operations in 2021.
Maharashtra was also competing with Karnataka to get Tesla to set up a factory in the state. Maharashtra minister Subhash Desai had said recently that the state was still in the race for the manufacturing unit. He had claimed that Tesla had decided to set up a showroom in Karnataka. Such a showroom will also open in Mumbai. “They want to start a manufacturing facility in the country. However, before launching a full-fledged manufacturing plant, they want to showcase six electric vehicle models in India to see which of them will get maximum response. So, they are first going to sell. These cars on sale will be brought from the US and Europe and sold here. They will select one of the cars to be manufactured in India for the Indian market and then decide where to set up their manufacturing facility,” Desai had said.
India has chalked big plans to boost investment in electric vehicles, The government plans to offer $4.6 billion in incentives to companies setting up advanced battery manufacturing facilities.
