The executive director of Tesla Inc., Elon Musk, indicated that he will visit India at the end of this year after speaking yesterday with Prime Minister Narendra Modiindicating a possible progress in the impulse long pending of the electric car manufacturer in the most populous country in the world.
He announced his travel plans in a publication on his social media platform X on Saturday. The billionaire businessman planned to visit India a year agobut postponed the trip at the last minute, claiming urgent problems in Tesla at that time.
A trip this year would arrive at a crucial moment for the billionaire businessman, whose Tesla companies, Starlink Inc. and X face increasing challenges, worldwide and in India.
Tesla has been losing market share in front of its rivals, due in part to the aggressive prices of companies such as the Chinese power of electric vehicles byd Co. and Musk’s closeness with US President Donald Trump, What has moved certain customer segments and turned Tesla into a more polarizing brand.
The American company has also been affected by the growing tariff war, that has led her to stop accepting orders in China of the Model S sedanes and the sports utilitarian vehicles Model X, both imported from the United States.
As the panorama of electric vehicles becomes more competitive, Tesla urgently needs new markets, and India, with its growing middle class and a government that drives clean mobility, is an obvious goal. Tesla has been wishing to enter India for a long time, but disagreements about import tariffs and local manufacturing commitments have stopped the progress.
Meanwhile, Musk drives his other initiatives in India. Starlink, his satellite Internet business, recently announced alliances with Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. These alliances could help bring satellite broadband to unattended rural areas, in line with the largest digital inclusion agenda of the Indian government.
Even so, Musk’s relationship with the Indian authorities remains complicated. X, formerly known as Twitter, is engaged in a dispute with the Indian government on content moderation.
