Geez... what a surprise. Launching already overpriced shitmobiles in an impoverished country at nearly twice the price Americans pay. Why wasn't this a smashing success?!
Cost conscious indians aint going to buy a fancy golf cart where for same cost they can get high end Mercedes and BMWs.
Anyone who's been paying attention knew this would be a non-event and not significantly move the needle for the company. Teslike has been saying for years that there's just not enough demand domestically in India to justify a factory and that Tesla wouldn't really sell more than 10k units at best. Much of that was prior to the Chinese BEV companies eating their lunch when it came both to entry level luxury and super affordable BEVs too.
🤣🤣🤣
Circling the drain.
They are waiting for the Model Y Refresh /s
Tesla Aktie +50%
Expect the stock to surge on this news. Low car production will allow Tesla to devote more production space to its reefer smoking sexbots, a trillion dollar product
It was never intended to be serious - just another stock pump to show it was 'searching out exciting new markets'.
Fancy human BBQ
India has its own line of EVs they would much prefer over that overpriced shitbox
Not everyone in India is poor. Most, but with even 0.5% of their population being able to afford a Tesla would make it a bigger market then many other western nations. Those consumers clearly don't care for Tesla's for whatever reason.
Indians are practical and smart. They know Tesla's real value.
I think you meant exiting new markets
Oh no! Well that’ll give the share price a nice bump.
The changing ecosystem is also not fully developed yet in India. Buying a Tesla without a nationwide Supercharger infra is silly season.
Bullish!!!
Because Legacy luxury brands have been selling better EVs there for decades already.
Shame runs deep
They way Trump has treated India may have a lot to do with this. We won't have an allie left by 2028. They also have better options.
India is split into 3 equally large consumer market segments - India1, India2, and India3. India1 was the target demographic to purchase Teslas, but buying a Tesla Model Y for the same price as a BMW IX1, Mercedes Benz EQB, a Mercedes Benz GLA, or a Mercedes Benz C-Class is ridiculous. On the other hand, India2 and India3 could buy a lower cost but still decent EV manufactured by domestic or domestic-manufactured brands like Tata, Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, or Hyundai India in the US$8k to US$17k range, so a Tesla doesn't make sense financially.
Even Chinese EV players like BYD are floundering in India. Domestic players like Tata, Mahindra, and Maruti Suzuki or international players with a large Indian manufacturing presence like Hyundai and Kia can manufacture and sell mass EVs in India for $8k-$20k. There is a demand for luxury cars in India, but a Tesla in India is priced the same as a Mercedes Benz or BMW (EV and ICE). If I'm paying the same amount for both, why would I take the inferior Tesla option over luxury German brands with showrooms in just about every Indian city. It's a similar story for BYD - they are priced the same as upper tier Kia, Hyundai, Tata, and Mahindra models but don't offer the form factor Indians prefer (CUVs and SUVs) in a cost effective price. For example, a Mahindra XEV 9e has an SUV form factor with a high road clearance and a better range yet is 10-20% cheaper than a BYD Atto 3. The only foreign manufacturers that truly understand the Indian market are the South Koreans, and that's why Hyundai and Kia have done pretty well in India's automotive market without a JV.
Yes. This is correct.
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It's better than a Tesla for the two reasons that matters in the Indian market - it's a Mercedes Benz AND it has a luxurious interior. For India1, getting chauffeured around is fairly common, so backseat and interior luxury matters. A car is not just a mode of transport, but is also a social statement. The "gangsters drive a Mahindra Scorpio", "wholesome middle class families drive a Maruti Suzuki", and other such stereotypes and images define entire automotive brands and badges in India (and globally as well). For example, think of the "Subaru owners lick carpet" or "RAM pickup drivers roll coal" stereotypes in the US.
Surprised that there are only 600 nazis in India. That's strikes me as a really low number for such a huge country.
Rich Indians are not going to buy a Tesla that looks outdated. They want to show off with real luxury cars. The working class cannot afford an EV and where would you even charge them?
ok I see what you mean
The problem is they cannot even get the Water and sewer infrastructure going how the heck do they expect EV's to work? If people need to shit on sidewalks due to lack of infrastructure there is going to be no where to charge EVs
Not only that, the tinpot body that tesla has will not survive indian driving conditions where every tom dick and harry can freely bump into your car and move on before you even realize you got it. Plus god forbid a pig comes in front, you are looking at a total loss. This is our incredible india.
Not all of India is as hellish as you describe it. Half of the states in India have developmental indicators and GDP PPP per capita comparable to Brazil or Ukraine. The other 25% either have developmental indicators and GDP PPP per capita comparable to Central America, and the last 25% have developmental indicators stuck at the Nepal levels. India has a massive disparity, but it is also a country of 1.4 billion people, so your experience in one state can be entirely different from the other. And from personal experience (and to my surprise), EV car sales have done much better in rural/small town India in my state instead of urban India because of the tax incentive, the fact that households there have access to personal charging or fast charging at dealerships, and becuase range anxiety matters less when your expected max average commute will be a 10-15 KM round trip instead of a 30-40 KM round trip in gridlocked traffic (Small town India in the NW, West, and South organically evolved into the "Strongtowns" concept, which helps dramatically reduce EV range anxiety) And this is why Tesla has failed and will continue to fail in India - they did absolutely no market research into form factor, ICPs, customer habits, and other critical data needed to launch a product. Indian EV manufacturers like Mahindra, Tata, and Maruti Suzuki along with Korean manufacturers like Hyundai and Kia are doing well in India because they truly did the legwork to understand their markets and invested in building a charging network by leveraging their dealerships.
Why is anybody surprised? The top 1% of indians earn USD34K. A Model 3 is USD68K. Western companies consistently fail to understand that the Indian market is completely irrelevant when it comes to most expensive goods or services. eg Mercedes sell ***twice*** as many cars in Australia (26M people) as it does it India.
I'm guessing that PPP is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in that statistic. And a per capita average is very different from a median income level. Correct me if i'm wrong, but my impression is that Indian cities generally have enclaves of modern housing for upper class people, and about a mile away there will be guys peeing in a urinal built on the sidewalk.
Fuck India for siding with Russia. Fuck Musk for siding with fascism.
Well, India gave us those amazing dumpsters that inspired the cybertruck.
Not all of them. Some cities are pits of despair, but others are going through [rapid urban redevelopment programs](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-07-16/india-s-mumbai-is-spending-billions-to-become-next-financial-hub-like-hong-kong) as part of [India's $205 billion infra budget for this year](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-06-12/india-s-second-infrastructure-wave-could-draw-205-billion-modi-s-third-term). It's hard to make a qualitative statement on Indian cities without knowing which Indian city it is and which state it is in as well. Most Westerners on an EV subreddit are probably working in the software industry, so they will overwhelmingly visit Bangalore. But Bangalore - like San Francisco in the US - is horribly mismanaged because it is politically irrelevant in it's state (Bangalore and it's suburbs only have 10% of the seats in Karnataka state assembly, and overwhelmingly vote for a party called the JD(S) - who are opposed by both the INC and BJP) AND because most of the tech parks and offices were built in rural areas of Bangalore district outside of the city limits of Bangalore city, so the city government didn't care to extend public services outside it's city limits. Other urban hubs in India like Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Noida, Coimbatore, Mangalore, Mysore, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Kochi, etc are much better managed and don't look much different from their ASEAN peers like in Indonesia and Vietnam. The other thing to consider as well is Indians don't have as much of an incentive to move to urban areas unless they are truly desperate and from states where the agricultural economy has collapsed (hence why you see a lot of derogatory statements about Biharis and Bengalis on Indian Reddit). Agricultural income is tax free, and federal and state governments have heavily leveraged welfare expansion as a tool to win votes (as most parliamentary and assembly seats are in small towns and Tier 3/4 areas). It makes more sense to earn $2,000 to $6,000 tax free as part of a Farmer's Cooperative with an additional $1,000-1,500 in subsidies and welfare while staying at your own house (most rural and small town Indians have their own house, not apartment) instead of earning $2,000-6,000 and paying rent and incidentals - that only makes sense if you are from a state like Bihar where the rural economy is dead. Even manufacturers have realized this and have begun building factories in small town India as a result. South, West, and NW Indian states have been giving industrial subsidizes, tax holidays, and single window licensing boards in order to push factories to open up in these small towns. That's how Apple's factory opened up in a former farming village called Sriperumbur, Kia in Penukonda, and Procter & Gamble Healthcare in Baddi.
Thanks for your reply
Your welcome! It's a good question. India has a habit of disappointing both optimists and pessimists. I think it's best to look at India the same way you would have looked at China 13-15 years ago - China began it's market economy reforms in 1978 but India only started them in 1991, which is why India fell behind by the 2010s because when China began running in the 2000s India was still in the midst of the transition China made in the 1990s. The same dynamics you see in India today are almost the exact same as those you'd see in China back in the 2007-2013 period. It's literally deja vu.
This has been priced in.. tesla stock to the moon.. cause penetration has just begun.. this is only the tip
I wouldn't exactly call the GLA a luxurious interior. It's some pleather narrow seats, some LEDs on fake chrome vents, and a screen. It's also quite compact as it's 15" shorter than the Model Y which isn't exactly big. [https://www.mercedes-benz.co.in/passengercars/models/suv/gla/overview.html](https://www.mercedes-benz.co.in/passengercars/models/suv/gla/overview.html)
Can most indians even afford any of those cars? Other than the 1%, their per capita income is way too low to even buy a tesla. But I suppose 1% of a bilion people is a decent size market.
No dumpsters in India. Just piles of garbage.
That was unecessary, incorrect and rude. [https://www.google.com/search?sca\_esv=0f9b108d57af51d0&sxsrf=AE3TifNZknFW4u5HfOH4iSIFDYMUN7GwDA:1756850149297&udm=2&fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZ1Y6MJ25\_tmWITc7uy4KIeioyp3OhN11EY0n5qfq-zENyQuF3\_WaPI4Qgb6AZzy-etFjo9fqZ\_m1LmwOk0Tw7NlugVBqJ2aYQkP3knYTQiMAm7VMYCShUYFAjfab01LRPu7T6r7JLyXh4g10wM4MIuhgmcw9MWBeBQodDsJvoIkm6a8gjQ8MCeXyHrPcd-p2hF-AVnA&q=india+dumpster+cybertruck&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0\_cnoiLuPAxU0CTQIHewsAf0QtKgLegQIHhAB&biw=1920&bih=911&dpr=1#vhid=TQFwT5xHF8y3xM&vssid=mosaic](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=0f9b108d57af51d0&sxsrf=AE3TifNZknFW4u5HfOH4iSIFDYMUN7GwDA:1756850149297&udm=2&fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZ1Y6MJ25_tmWITc7uy4KIeioyp3OhN11EY0n5qfq-zENyQuF3_WaPI4Qgb6AZzy-etFjo9fqZ_m1LmwOk0Tw7NlugVBqJ2aYQkP3knYTQiMAm7VMYCShUYFAjfab01LRPu7T6r7JLyXh4g10wM4MIuhgmcw9MWBeBQodDsJvoIkm6a8gjQ8MCeXyHrPcd-p2hF-AVnA&q=india+dumpster+cybertruck&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0_cnoiLuPAxU0CTQIHewsAf0QtKgLegQIHhAB&biw=1920&bih=911&dpr=1#vhid=TQFwT5xHF8y3xM&vssid=mosaic)
This is an extremely impressive number for The Vatican San Marino Monaco The Maldives and Liechtenstein India? Not so much
Let's be honest here. India3 isn't buying cars. But India1 and India2 are still pretty big markets.
There are more people indian who can afford a much expensive car than tesla than any other country in the world. Maybe except china.
Totally untrue. Over 70 MILLION Americans have an income in excess of USD100K. There are 25x as many American millionaires as Indian millionaires.
"Half of the states in India have developmental indicators and GDP PPP per capita comparable to Brazil or Ukraine." Ukraine and Brazil are shitholes.
EQB is the better comparison and was also mentioned.
I'm not up to date on car prices in India but Google says the EQB starts about ₹13 lakh more than the Tesla Model Y which is about 22% or $14k USD difference. EQB interior is still pretty much the same as the GLA with a bit more LED lighting, headroom, and space in back. Truth is people still pay a premium for the big ass badge up front.
Also Tesla doesn't have the advantage of offering Autopilot/FSD which is a big selling point in Western Countries ( I'm just saying it attracts people, not that it works).
Maybe - I don’t know which extras go into the EQB and how much the two models cost there adjusted (could be even worse for EQB). Thing is, I’ve sat in both. And EQB is a premium car - not high end but the ride on bumpy roads is pretty Merc like good. I’ve also driven in Mod 3 and Y and I wouldn’t want to take these to Indian roads…
Tell us more about these carpet licking Subaru drivers. 😂
Roughly two percent of Tesla owners pay for FSD, it’s clearly not wanted anywhere
https://priceonomics.com/how-an-ad-campaign-made-lesbians-fall-in-love-with/ https://www.npr.org/2022/06/29/1108739853/when-subaru-came-out-classic https://wordpress.kpu.ca/depd3530/2023/09/28/subarus-ad-campaigns-targeting-lesbians/
I learned everything I need to know about India from a Seinfeld episode. The New York Indians don’t even want to go back.
Won't make a difference. India is a small market. /s Stock prices are up 3.57% currently. ??????
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India1 isn't buying BYD because it's not a luxury brand in India. And India2 isn't buying BYD because Hyundai, Kia, and Mahindra provide similar products at a cost competitive price.
They're waiting for Model Y 2, clearly.
that is approximately 0.000041% adoption rates by my fellow brothers and sisters.
That's not the case as not everyone buys these 2 cars. Also if that was the case, there won't be any market for indian EVs
That 1% population would make a bigger market than many western nations lmao. U can't reject the 1.5B population while accounting for 1-2%. Its not about the riches, it's about the car. Yes there is a market for expensive cars in india
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