Tesla in India: After a tariff impasse, Tesla has put its plans to enter India on hold

After failing to achieve reduced import duties, Tesla Inc has put plans to sell electric cars in India on hold, abandoned a search for showroom space, and transferred some of its domestic team, according to three individuals familiar with the situation.

Tesla planned to first test demand by selling electric vehicles (EVs) imported from production hubs in the United States and China at reduced tariffs, which resulted in a year of stalled talks with government authorities.

Indian government is pressuring Tesla to commit to local manufacture

However, the Indian government is pressuring Tesla to commit to local manufacturing before it lowers import duties, which can be as high as 100%. Tesla had set a deadline of Feb. 1 to determine if its lobbying paid off, the day India releases its budget and reveals tax adjustments, according to sources familiar with the company’s strategy.

Tesla put its intentions to import cars into India on hold after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government refused to make a compromise, according to the people, who requested anonymity because the discussions were private.

Tesla had been looking for real estate alternatives in the main Indian cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru for months, but that plan has also been put on hold, according to two people.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment sent via email. A request for response from the Indian government was not immediately returned.

Some of Tesla’s small crew in India has been given extra tasks for other markets. Manuj Khurana, the company’s India policy leader, has been working in a new “product” capacity in San Francisco since March, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in January that the company was “still working through a lot of problems with the government” in terms of sales in India.

The shift in tactics was triggered by increased demand for Tesla vehicles overseas and a conflict over import tariffs, according to the sources. Mr. Modi has tried to entice manufacturers with a “Make in India” push, but his transport minister, Nitin Gadkari, warned in April that Tesla importing cars from China would not be a “good proposal.”

However, in January, New Delhi gained a victory when Mercedes-Benz announced that it would begin building one of its electric cars in India.

Tesla had hoped to get a head start in India’s modest but rising electric vehicle market, which is now dominated by Tata Motors. Tesla’s minimum price of $40,000 would place it in the luxury category of the Indian market, where sales account for a small percentage of the country’s yearly car sales of approximately 3 million.

From California, SpaceX launches Starlink satellites

After blasting off from California on Friday, a SpaceX rocket delivered 53 satellites for the Starlink broadband constellation into orbit.

At 3.07 p.m. (local time), the Falcon 9 booster launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, and minutes later, the first stage landed on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean, while the second stage carried on to low Earth orbit. The satellites were successfully deployed, SpaceX later tweeted. Starlink is a space-based technology that SpaceX has been developing for years in order to deliver an internet connection to remote parts of the globe. California-based Hawthorne Hundreds of Starlink satellites orbit Earth at an altitude of 340 miles, thanks to SpaceX. (550 kilometers).

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