Tesla kicks off customer deliveries in India
The Model Y is Tesla’s launch offering in India, with the rear-wheel drive version starting at 5.989 million rupees (69,000 USD) and the long-range rear-wheel drive version priced at 6.789 million rupees (79,000 USD). The prices in India are significantly higher than in neighbouring markets, due to India’s 70% import tariff on electric vehicles. This has not stopped international manufacturers from launching in India, however, as the Vietnamese manufacturer VinFast also just opened up for business in the Southeast Asian country, for example.
The announcement was made by Tesla’s Global Vice President, Grace Tao, on September 27, 2025, who added that all vehicles in this initial delivery batch were manufactured at the Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory.
“Congratulations to our new owners! We look forward to Tesla’s products and services bringing a smooth and comfortable travel experience to more consumers around the world,” Mrs Tao stated.
The run-up has been long for the launch: Tesla CEO Elon Musk first mentioned plans to sell in India more than nine years ago in April 2016. The first Tesla on India’s roads was privately imported as early as 2017, preceding the installation of the first supercharger station in the country by nearly eight years. By 2020, the communication was that the company would launch by 2021, at the latest, but the Tesla CEO’s promise fell short.
This also marks an important expansion for Tesla, which has been struggling with sales in North America and Europe, although business in China seems to be fairly stable, only falling by four per cent in the last market assessment.
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