NEW DELHI, June 2: Tesla does not want to produce cars in India, a Central minister said on Monday as the government finalised its electric vehicle policy, with the EV giant's plans currently focused on importing cars into the country.

India will significantly cut import taxes for foreign automakers that pledge to invest in domestic EV production lines. The policy, which has been in the works for a year, was originally designed to attract Tesla to set up manufacturing in the country but CEO Elon Musk put his investment plans for India on hold last year.

Tesla's immediate plan is to import cars into India even though Musk has repeatedly said that the country's tariffs on imported vehicles are too high.
Tesla did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment outside of U.S. business hours.

Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Kia have, however, shown interest in India's EV manufacturing policy, the minister for heavy industries, HD Kumaraswamy, told reporters.

"Tesla, we are not actually expecting (interest) from them ... They are not interested in manufacturing in India," Kumaraswamy said.

Skoda Auto Volkswagen India said it was closely monitoring the development of EV-related policies in India and assessing their implications.

"Based on this, we define the appropriate next steps in line with our long-term strategy," the company said in a statement.

Companies will be allowed to import a limited number of electric cars at a reduced duty of 15% versus the current 70% if they commit to investing around $500 million to build EVs in the country, the Ministry of Heavy Industries said in a statement.

The companies will be required to set up manufacturing facilities in India, the world's third-largest car market, commence operations within three years of approval and meet certain local content requirements.

Domestic players like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have invested millions of dollars in local EV manufacturing, with more to come, and lobbied against duty cuts.

The new scheme allows limited investment in machines, research and charging. A lack of fast chargers has deterred potential purchasers in the country's nascent EV market.

India's EV sales, dominated by Tata Motors, accounted for just 2.5% of total car sales of 4.3 million in 2024. The government wants to increase this to 30% by 2030.

Elon Musk Meets Chinese Premier, Says 'All Cars Will Be Electric In Future'

BEIJING, April 28: Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing on Sunday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of Full Self-Driving software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang in Beijing, during which Li Qiang told Elon Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation.

Elon Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier on Sunday with a post on social media platform X.

"Honored to meet with Premier Li Qiang. We have known each other now for many years, since early Shanghai days," Elon Musk posted, with a picture with the premier.

Tesla reached an accord with Chinese authorities for a plant in Shanghai, its first outside the US, in 2018.

The US electric vehicle maker rolled out Full Self-Driving, or FSD, the most autonomous version of its Autopilot software, four years ago but has yet to make it available in China, its second-largest market globally, despite customers urging it to do so.

Elon Musk said this month Tesla may make FSD available to customers in China "very soon", in response to a query on social media platform X.

Rival Chinese automakers such as Xpeng have been seeking to gain an advantage over Tesla by rolling out similar software.

Elon Musk is looking to obtain approval to transfer data collected in the country abroad to train algorithms for its autonomous driving technologies, the person said.

Tesla has since 2021 stored all data collected by its Chinese fleet in Shanghai as required by Chinese regulators and has not transferred any back to the United States.

Elon Musk's visit to China, first reported by Reuters, was not flagged publicly and the person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak with media. Tesla did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, in its report about Elon Musk's meeting with Li Qiang, did not say whether the two had discussed FSD, or data.

Earlier in the day, a separate report carried by state radio said Li Qiang had visited the ongoing Beijing auto show and had commented about how China's smart new energy vehicle (NEV) sector had gained a leading position in the market and that the country had to work hard and maintain its advantages.

Elon Musk also met with Ren Hongbin, a government official who heads the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the organiser of the Beijing auto show, state media reported.

"It is good to see electric vehicles making progress in China. All cars will be electric in the future," Elon Musk said in a video posted on social media by a user affiliated with state media.

Elon Musk's trip came just over a week after he scrapped a planned visit to India to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing "very heavy Tesla obligations."

The company said this month it would lay off 10% of its global workforce as it grapples with falling sales and an intensifying price war for EVs led by Chinese brands.

US auto safety regulators said on Friday they had opened an investigation into whether Tesla's recall of more than 2 million vehicles in the US announced in December to install new Autopilot safeguards was adequate following a series of crashes.

A Gulfstream private jet with tail number N272BG, which is registered to Falcon Landing, a company connected to SpaceX and Tesla, landed at Beijing Capital Airport on Sunday at 0603 GMT, according to Chinese flight tracking app Flight Manager.

The other jet registered under Falcon Landing is N628TS, which is Elon Musk's main jet that he used to travel to China on his last trip nearly a year ago, when he met with Chinese government officials in Beijing and visited Tesla's Shanghai factory.

Tesla has sold more than 1.7 million cars in China since it entered the market a decade ago and the Shanghai factory is its largest globally.

Elon Musk's visit coincides with the Beijing auto show, which opened last week and ends on May 4. Tesla does not have a booth at China's largest auto show and last attended in 2021.

GM CEO Mary Barra made an unannounced visit to the show in the world's biggest auto market on Friday, according to two people with knowledge of her schedule. GM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Also on Friday, Grace Tao, Tesla's vice president in charge of external relations in China, published a commentary on the social media account of state media outlet People's Daily, arguing that autonomous driving technologies would be the new growth engine for EV industry.

Tao said in the article that Tesla was leading autonomous driving research and development with its "end-to-end neural network" technology and data collected from millions of cars on the road.

China's complicated traffic conditions with more pedestrians and cyclists than in many other markets provide more scenarios that are key for training autonomous driving algorithms at a faster pace, according to industry experts.

Elon Musk said last week Tesla would introduce new, cheaper models using its current EV platforms and production lines and would offer a new "robotaxi" with self-driving technology. He said in a post on X this month that he would unveil the robotaxi on Aug. 8.

Tesla shares are down almost a third since the start of the year as concerns have grown about the EV maker's growth trajectory. Last week, Tesla reported its first decline in quarterly revenue since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic slowed production and deliveries.

India To Finalise Deal With Tesla To Import EVs, Set Up Plant Soon: Report

India is closing in on an agreement with Tesla Inc. that would allow the US automaker to ship its electric cars to the country from next year and set up a factory within two years, according to people familiar with the matter.

An announcement could come at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in January, one of the people said, declining to be identified because the discussions are private. Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are under consideration because they already have well-established ecosystems for electric vehicles and exports, another person said.

Tesla would commit an initial minimum investment in any plant of around $2 billion, one person said, and would look to increase purchases of auto parts from the nation to as much as $15 billion. The US automaker would also seek to make some batteries in India to bring down costs, the person said.

No final decision has been made and the plans could change, the people said. Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in June that Tesla plans to make a "significant investment" in India and he intends to visit in 2024.

Representatives from India's Ministry of Heavy Industries, which oversees the automobile sector, and the ministries of finance, and commerce and industry, didn't respond to requests for comment. Tesla also didn't respond to a request for comment.

Breaking into the world's most-populous nation, where demand for electric vehicles is growing among aspirational middle-class consumers, would be a boon for Tesla, which currently has factories in the US, China and Germany. Modi's government has been pushing to increase domestic manufacturing of EVs and encourage a more rapid adoption of cleaner transport.

Despite those efforts, India's EV market hasn't taken off, with battery-powered cars accounting for just 1.3% of the total passenger vehicles sold last year, according to a report. Buyers are hesitant to make the switch due to electric cars' high upfront cost and a dearth of charging stations.

Tesla doesn't import cars directly into India because of the high tariffs that are levied. When its first locally made cars do go on sale they could retail for as little as $20,000, some of the people said.

Trade Minister Piyush Goyal, who visited Tesla's plant in Fremont, California earlier this month, said in September that Tesla is planning to almost double purchases of auto parts from India to $1.9 billion this year. The electric carmaker sourced parts worth $1 billion from the nation last year, he said at an event in New Delhi at the time.

Tesla and India, which is the world's third-largest automobile market, reopened dialog in May following a year-long impasse. Musk has criticized India's high import taxes and its EV policies, and India, in turn, has advised Tesla not to sell cars in the country that have been made in China, its political rival.

India is now said to be considering lowering import taxes for international EV manufacturers for a period of five years if those firms eventually commit to setting up local factories.