Tesla Execs Will Reportedly Meet Indian Officials In Coming Days—In Push To Reduce Reliance On China

Editor2

May 16, 2023

[ad_1]

Updated May 16, 2023, 08:32am EDT

Topline

Tesla executives will go to India and meet with authorities officers later this week in an effort to broaden its provide chain within the nation, Bloomberg reported, marking the newest effort by the electrical car maker to construct a presence on the planet’s most populous nation and scale back its dependence on China.

Yantai, East China’s Shandong.

Future Publishing through Getty Images

Key Facts

Citing unnamed sources on the firm, Bloomberg reported that Tesla executives will meet “government representatives,” together with officers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s workplace, to “discuss local sourcing of components for Tesla’s models.”

The report provides that Tesla’s contingent will embrace C-suite executives and provide chain managers, however nobody was named.

Indian authorities officers and Tesla’s management—including CEO Elon Musk—have beforehand clashed over the nation’s steep duties on imported automobiles, and the visiting executives are anticipated to convey up the problem as soon as once more, the report added.

Sourcing key parts from India is probably going an effort to cut back its reliance on China amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.

What We Don’t Know

It is unclear how this plan will likely be obtained by Indian authorities officers and if it’ll lastly open the door for Tesla to promote its vehicles in India. Indian authorities officers have beforehand indicated they need Tesla to decide to manufacturing its EVs within the nation, one thing that appears extremely unlikely now. India’s authorities has additionally indicated it is not going to enable the carmaker to import automobiles made in its Shanghai manufacturing facility, owing to political tensions between India and China.

Big Number

100%. That is the overall import responsibility that India expenses on foreign-made automobiles priced greater than $40,000—together with insurance coverage and transport prices. Tesla’s least costly Model 3 prices greater than $40,000 and could be topic to this responsibility, pushing its worth within the nation above $80,000.

Key Background

Despite a number of years of hypothesis, Tesla vehicles should not formally accessible in India, the world’s third-largest auto market. Tesla CEO Musk has repeatedly blamed this on India’s steep import duties, noting that they’re “the highest in the world by far of any large country.” The billionaire has urged the Indian authorities to permit a short lived tariff aid for electrical automobiles, claiming it might be good for India’s local weather targets. New Delhi has been lukewarm to Musk’s overtures and has indicated it might solely take into account a request for decrease tariffs if Tesla commits to sourcing not less than $500 million of its parts from the nation. Tesla isn’t the one automaker making these requests as each Volkswagen and Hyundai have additionally appealed for decrease tariffs on imported electrical automobiles.