There was already talk of a new Gigafactory in India early last year, but the project was put on hold indefinitely - until now, because now there are new talks between Tesla and India. Tesla has proposed building a factory in India to build electric cars for domestic sales and export, the automaker told government officials Wednesday.
The proposal was made by Tesla after India rejected Tesla's request last year to cut import taxes on cars by up to 100 percent. India wanted the automaker to build the vehicles locally, but Tesla wanted to test the market with imports first, and talks ended in deadlock.
While Tesla did not discuss lower import taxes with Indian officials, the company proposed building a new factory but did not specify a location or investment, said the source, who asked not to be named because the talks were private. Manufacturing cars locally is in line with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to attract companies looking to diversify their supply chains beyond China with his "Make in India" campaign. Senior Tesla executives are in India this week to talk with the government about local sourcing of parts and other issues, Reuters reported Tuesday.
In addition, production in India could be beneficial if U.S.-China relations continue to deteriorate. Tesla exports electric cars from its factory there to Europe and now North America, though only to Canada for now. In an interview after Tesla's annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday, CEO Musk expressed the expectation that China would try to reclaim the independent Republic of Taiwan.
Source: Reddit
