The Silicon-valley based electric car maker Tesla Motors Model 3, which has seen people queue up in huge numbers to pre-order in the U.S., has attracted interest from big names in the Indian start-up ecosystem.
This model is seen as the key to Tesla’s future success as it attempts to become a mass market player. Tesla founder Elon Musk had tweeted that the firm would be taking orders from India and a few other emerging markets, marking its entry into India and being the first global electric vehicle to do so.
The firm has said pre-orders for the car had crossed 130,000 in the first 24 hours, according to Reuters.
The sleek four-door sedan that can travel 215 miles on a single charge will go into production next year. It will be ready for delivery in the U.S. by late 2017 at a starting price of $35,000, before tax breaks. At current exchange rates, it amounts to Rs. 23.2 lakh in India. As per current regulations, Indians need to pay 100 per cent import duty, which would take the price tag to Rs.46.4 lakh.
Tesla is accepting a token of $1,000 for pre-orders.
Vijay Sekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Alibababacked Paytm, confirmed that he had pre-ordered the car. “Let’s see how long does it take for TeslaModel3 to reach India. Reservation done for now,” he tweeted.
Other start-up entrepreneurs who have pre-booked the car are Vishal Gondal of GoQii, venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy and Sujayath Ali, founder and CEO at Voonik. Amit Bhawani, who runs PhoneRadarBlog, an advisory blog on smartphones and gadgets, was among the first to pre-order the Model 3 in India.
Adbul Majeed, partner at PWC, said that with the Model 3, Tesla is testing the Indian market and can build a big brand in India.
“By the time they start shipping the vehicle to India, they would expect the Indian government to bring incentives for electric cars.” The Indian car market is also tending towards better environment-friendly cars.
