Tesla is reportedly in talks to partner with Tata Motors for charging infrastructure in India as the automaker is about to launch in the country.
Over the last few months, there have been more rumors of Tesla looking to establish manufacturing and/or research and development in India.
Local government officials have revealed talks with Tesla executives, and last month Tesla officially incorporated an Indian company in Bengaluru, the capital of India’s southern Karnataka state.
Last month, Tesla even registered a business unit in India – confirming that something is happening.
Now CNBC’s Indian division is reporting that Tesla is in early talks with Tata Motors, a giant conglomerate in India, to partner on charging infrastructure:
“Tesla Inc is exploring an arrangement with Indian conglomerate Tata Sons’ power generation unit, Tata Power, to set up charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in the country, CNBC-TV18 reported on Friday, citing sources.”
Tata didn’t outright deny the report and confirmed that they are expanding their charging infrastructure business, but they also said that the report was “factually incorrect” without elaborating.
At this point, Tesla’s plans in India are still not clear.
The automaker generally enters new markets by first building a small retail, service, and charging presence and then importing vehicles in the country.
With India, the local government has been pushing for Tesla to establish local manufacturing right away, and there has been evidence that the latter is happening.
CEO Elon Musk has indicated that Tesla aims to launch in the country later this year, and therefore, the official plans are expected to be revealed relatively soon.
India is currently the world’s fourth largest automotive market, and it is expected that it could become the third in 2021.
While the millions of vehicles sold in the country every year mainly consist of smaller and cheaper cars, there’s a growing middle class in India that could change the auto market in the country.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
