Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce & Industry and several others in the city have made a strong pitch for establishing an electric car manufacturing unit in Visakhapatnam by the United States-based Tesla.
They contend that Vizagites have a dream to attract a car manufacturing unit to the largest cosmopolitan and commercial city of Andhra Pradesh. After raising hopes the proposal to locate manufacturing units by Proton and Volkswagen failed to materialise in the city due to various reasons.
The word on visit of Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari to the United States to have talks with Tesla has generated a lot of interest in the city. Mr. Gadkari has already urged Tesla to locate its manufacturing unit near any port in India to make it a hub and facilitate exports to South and South East Asia.
“Let’s use every contact and forum to bring Tesla to Visakhapatnam as it is an ideal location,” COO of Visakha Container Terminal Sushil Mulchandani told The Hindu.
Tesla is known worldwide for producing high volume and affordable eco-friendly cards.
“Tesla also looks for a high confidence that the factory is going to be ready on time so that when the product needs to reach the markets, it does on time. Tesla will also look to see whether the factory can be run cost effectively so that the car can be affordable,” said Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce & Industry president A.V. Monish Row.
He said States would offer incentives and that would be another factor for Tesla to decide a location for its factory but not the most important factor.
