According to Teslarati, a website that tracks Tesla news, Tesla will open its first stores in two cities in India, after years of negotiations with the Indian government to bring its business to the world's third-largest auto market. After Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, the company's plans to bring electric cars to India appear to have been revived, with a series of job postings.
Tesla has selected store locations in New Delhi and Mumbai, where the automaker began looking for retail space late last year, reports said on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to two people familiar with the matter, Tesla chose the Aerocity area near New Delhi International Airport. In addition to being close to the airport, there are many hotels, corporate offices, and other retail stores in the nearby area.
According to another source, Tesla will open a store in Mumbai's Bandra Kurla integrated shopping area, which is also close to the city's airport. The source said Tesla stores in New Delhi and Mumbai are both expected to be around 465 square meters (about 5,000 square feet), but neither location will include service centers.
There have been previous reports that Tesla would consider setting up a potential manufacturing facility in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu or Gujarat, but the company has not confirmed whether it is still considering those plans. Tesla has been in talks with Indian officials since at least 2019 about launching its vehicle operations and potential factory in the country, although those plans have been repeatedly shelved.