A few days ago, I spotted the following Reuters headline: “Exclusive: India woos Tesla with offer of cheaper production costs than China.” Intrigued, and thinking there was some real news on what Tesla is going to do in India, I opened the link and read through the story. However, the key point is that there’s no sign the wooing attempt has been successful so far. There is Tesla movement/progress in India, as we’ve reported previously, but the extent of Tesla’s entry into India is unclear. In fact, the Reuters article itself may primarily be part of the wooing attempt.
I should note that the question in my headline above is not a rhetorical question — I don’t presume to know the answer. I honestly just think that’s one of the most interesting Tesla-related questions right now and thus wanted to write about it more and hear more opinions to see if I can learn something from our engaged readers here on CleanTechnica.
First things first, the core news, which we reported in January and February, was that Tesla is setting up manufacturing unit in Karnataka, India. However, there’s still a question of whether that will simply mean assembling vehicles in India or a full-on gigafactory like Tesla is still building in China, Germany, Texas, and Nevada. After all, CEO Elon Musk has said before that they will need a bunch of gigafactories (not just 4), and his aim is to produce 20 million vehicles a year by 2030.
That’s where I’ll return to the new Reuters…
