Tesla's first showroom in India opened last week, but this commercial expansion did not receive rave reviews in the Indian market. Some early supporters of Tesla said they did not intend to buy Tesla cars after the Tesla store opened in India. This was partly due to the delay in booking orders for Tesla Model 3 in the Indian market in the early years, and partly because of Tesla's relatively negative service attitude.
Vishal Gondal, founder and CEO of fitness technology startup GPQii, said that he is a loyal fan of Tesla and Musk and ordered a Model 3 as early as 2016. However, in the end he had to apply for a refund for the transaction in 2023, and it took time and effort to get back his $1,000 reservation fee.
Gondal has been waiting for several years without getting his Model 3. He told the media that if he had invested $1,000 in Tesla stocks that year, he might have made a lot of money.
He also said he was a bit disappointed after visiting Tesla's store in Mumbai. Compared with the sensation caused by the opening of the Apple store next door, Tesla's opening seemed much deserted.
Internal and external disturbances
Amit Bhawani, founder of the Indian technology blog Phoneradar, who pre-ordered the Model 3 in 2016, said that this felt like the coldest launch event. He later publicly criticized Tesla in 2020 and finally got his reservation fee back.
There are many Indian consumers like Bhawani and Gondal. Tesla's slightly poor after-sales service has made them dissatisfied. When the first Indian store opened, Tesla disappointed old customers even more by not inviting them to visit. Gondal complained that Tesla should at least send an email to all customers who have pre-ordered vehicles and that they have been supporting Tesla.
The impact of the disappointment of these Indian technology geeks on the Indian market cannot be underestimated. Varun Krishnan, the operator of the Indian technology blog FoneArena, pointed out that some early Tesla supporters are very influential in the industry. If they buy something, they can attract the attention of 100 people.
However, many people like Gondal have said they will not buy Tesla, which may pose a challenge to Tesla's development in the Indian market. Considering Tesla's recent sharp decline in sales in European and American markets, another setback in emerging markets may have a huge impact on the company's prospects.
In addition, some Tesla supporters in the Indian market are considering infrastructure issues, because so far, Tesla has not announced a clear plan to establish a super charging network and after-sales service network in India. This also makes some supporters more inclined to choose electric vehicles with higher cost performance.
Other analysts pointed out that Tesla has launched Model Y in India, with a starting price of 5.989 million rupees (approximately 68,000 US dollars), while the high-end car market in India starts at 3.5 million rupees and can reach up to 10 million rupees, but it only accounts for 1% of the total car sales in India, about 50,000 cars. Among them, electric vehicles account for about 10%.
Analysts believe that in 2016, Tesla first announced its entry into the Indian market, which aroused considerable interest because competition in the market was very limited. But now everyone in India has the opportunity to buy a beautiful and powerful electric car, and considering the price of Tesla, its entry into India now will hardly have any impact on the brand in this price range.