Tesla has leased new office space in India, driving more rumors and speculation of an imminent market entry for the all-electric automaker that has been in the works for a long time.
A 5,850-square-foot space in the Panchshil Business Park in Pune, India, has been leased by Tesla, according to Punekarnews, an Indian media outlet. Tesla’s Indian subsidiary, known as Tesla India Motor & Energy, grabbed up the space.
Pune is likely not where Tesla’s potential production facility will end up, but the region is known for its IT and automotive industries nonetheless.
The acquisition of the office space by Tesla shows it is further solidifying its efforts to establish some sort of presence in India as it moves toward building an automotive production facility in the region to build a $24,000 vehicle for the country and for export.
Tesla Gigafactory India
We’ve told the story of Tesla and India many times and how the two have been attempting to establish a business relationship for years. However, things have never aligned enough to the point that Tesla would commit to building a factory in the country.
However, this year, things have seemed to take a more serious turn than in the past, especially as CEO Elon Musk referred to India as a possible location for the company’s next production facility earlier this year.
Additionally, Musk said during a June meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi:
“I am confident Tesla will be in India, and we’ll do so as soon as humanly possible. Hopefully, we’ll be able to announce something in the not-too-distant future. We don’t want to jump the gun on an announcement, but it’s quite likely that there will be a significant investment and relationship in the future.”
But it is important not to jump the gun, just as Musk said. In the past, Tesla has made sizeable strides toward establishing a real presence in the country, even going as far as hiring a team of executives that would oversee the initial operations.
However, these moves ultimately did not move the potential of a Gigafactory forward, as negotiations between Tesla and India crumbled as demands that both parties required were unable to be met.
Perhaps this time, things will be different.
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