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As Mumbai disappoints, Tesla opens pan-India booking

U.S. EV major Tesla Tuesday started pan-India booking after the poor response in Mumbai where it opened showroom last week

Thursday July 24, 2025 0:17 AM, Zohair M Safwan Faizee

Mumbai: U.S. EV major Tesla Tuesday started pan-India booking after, it is learnt, the poor response in Mumbai where it opened showroom last week.

“Now everyone in India can order directly on our website”, Tesla announced in a single-line message posted on social media platform X.

Tesla also tagged with its social media post an image listing the names of all the 28 states and 8 Union Territories (UTs) of India.

Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Gurugram have been listed as “Priority Delivery” locations.

Tesla India Debut

After a long wait, Tesla opened its first showroom, which it calls “Experience Centre”, in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Mumbai on July 15, 2025.

The company has launched its Model Y for buyers in India with a starting price of INR 59.89 lakh. The booking amount is INR 22,000 with delivery starting from September.

A week after its showroom opened in Mumbai, Tesla is keeping a guarded silence about the response, and actual sales and bookings in India.

Ummid.com has learnt that there are some bookings in the last one week and customers came also from faraway cities like Hyderabad and Pune. But, the response is not as per the company’s expectations, it is learnt.

"Tax-la"

One of the main reasons behind the poor response, it is learnt, is the taxes. The base price of Tesla Y Model is around $37,490 which comes to around INR 30 lakh. This is almost the same as the expected price of the Mahindra XEV 9E.

However, the 70% Import Duty, 28% GST and other taxes take the Tesla Model Y on-road price to more than 61 lakh Indian rupees.

Some potential buyers have renamed Tesla in India as “Tax-la” because of the hefty duties and taxes.

“The cost of the car is 30 lakh and total taxes are 31 lakh. This is nothing but a joke”, Rahul, an architect, told ummid.com.

Rahul had visited the Tesla Mumbai showroom two days ago but was disappointed as the test drive was not available.

“Graveyard for Western Brands”

India is the third largest car market in the world. But, it has been termed graveyard for the western brands, Christiaan Hetzner said writing for Fortune.

The Indian automobile market is dominated by Maruti which earned its standings riding on its partnership with Japan's Suzuki. Western brands like Chevrolet, Ford, Fiat, Opel and Nissan were launched with much fanfare but were forced to pack-up soon because of poor response.

“None of the other brands that all had big hopes when entering the market have had any success,” PwC Autofacts analyst Steven von Arsdale told Fortune.

Only time will show for how long Tesla will survive in the highly competitive Indian market, and more importantly, the massive tariffs the government is imposing on imported cars.

[Zohair M Safwan Faizee is Staff Writer at ummid.com.]

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