Tesla Will Be in India as Quickly as Attainable, Says Elon Musk

Tesla chief govt Elon Musk mentioned on Tuesday that the electrical carmaker is trying to put money into India “as quickly as humanly attainable.”

His feedback adopted a gathering with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York throughout Modi’s state go to to the US. A supply beforehand instructed Reuters that Musk would transient Modi on plans to arrange a producing base in India.

“I’m assured that Tesla shall be in India and can accomplish that as quickly as humanly attainable,” Musk mentioned when requested by reporters about Tesla’s plan to put money into India, including he supposed to go to the nation subsequent 12 months.

“I want to thank the prime minister for his help and hopefully we’ll be capable of announce one thing within the not too distant future,” he added.

Musk mentioned he’s “a fan” of Modi and famous the prime minister visited a Tesla manufacturing unit in California a number of years in the past, in line with video from Indian broadcaster ANI on Twitter.

“India has extra promise than any giant nation on the earth. He (Modi) actually cares about India as a result of he is pushing us to make vital investments in India, which is one thing we intend to do. We’re simply making an attempt to determine the suitable timing,” Musk mentioned.

India has sturdy potential for a sustainable vitality future together with solar energy, stationary battery packs and electrical autos, he mentioned. Musk, additionally CEO of SpaceX, mentioned it hopes to convey Starlink satellite tv for pc Web service to India as nicely.

Executives of Tesla visited India and held talks with Indian bureaucrats and ministers final month on establishing a producing base for automobiles and batteries in India.

Musk mentioned final month Tesla would most likely decide a location for a brand new manufacturing unit by the top of this 12 months, including India was an attention-grabbing place for a brand new plant.

US firms want to scale back reliance on China as a producing base within the face of tensions between Washington and Beijing. Tesla final 12 months shelved its India entry plans resulting from excessive import tax buildings.

Modi’s assembly with Musk, who owns Twitter, got here days after Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey accused India of threatening to close down the platform for not complying with content material takedown orders throughout a 2020-2021 protest. India known as the allegation an “outright lie”.

Musk has not commented on the episode, which precipitated a political storm in India.

© Thomson Reuters 2023