U.S. President Donald Trump didn’t mince his words while warning Elon Musk ahead of Tesla’s India operations
Elon Musk is about to sell Tesla cars in India as the job openings for its Mumbai showroom have surfaced online. The news of Tesla entering India has been making headlines for the last couple of years now. However, Elon Musk often expressed his dissatisfaction with exorbitant import tariffs imposed by India on foreign cars. That results in doubling the original price of a car above a certain range by the time it reaches India. Understandably, that could affect the entire business proposition for any car company.
Trump Warns Elon Musk About Selling Tesla Cars in India
Now, we know that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the U.S. recently. There, he met with Donald Trump and Elon Musk after the former assumed office as the U.S. President. Overall, the meeting went great and Tesla even published job openings for its showrooms in Mumbai afterwards. However, in a recent interview with Fox News, Trump said that it is okay that Tesla is setting up a manufacturing plant in India, but it is unfair to the U.S. On top of that, he warned Musk that it is impossible to sell cars in India due to the high import duties.
Because of this, the prices of cars become too high which kills the competition and favours the local automakers. However, India’s recent EV policy addressed this issue. Now, if a foreign carmaker invests at least $500 million in India to establish manufacturing and boost local economy by hiring local workers, the import tariffs on cars above $40,000 (approx. Rs 35 lakh) will be reduced from 110% to 70%. That is a significant drop which will result in a lower final price of the new car. After this news, Elon Musk resurrected his plans to start selling cars in India.
My View
This has been quite a tricky subject for the last few years. The Indian government wants to look out for indigenous carmakers and local workers. Hence, these policies were meant to promote local manufacturing. However, after the recent EV policy, it has ensured that the overall economy of the nation is still boosted and the local suppliers and workers benefit even when any new car marque commences operations in India. Let us see how fast we start selling Tesla cars on Indian roads.
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Also Read: Tesla Starts Hiring in India – Showrooms Coming Up in Delhi & Mumbai
