A major regulatory roadblock has been cleared for Tesla as it plans to expand its presence in South Asia. India, the world’s third-largest passenger vehicle market behind China and the U.S., has agreed to lower its punitive tariffs on certain imported electric vehicles, its commerce ministry announced today.
India imposes up to a 100% import duty on cars manufactured overseas. That means the standard range Tesla Model 3, which starts at $38,990 in the U.S. would cost over $77,000 in India under the current regulations.
These rules have now been relaxed for electric cars as long as automakers invest at least $500 million in local manufacturing. This threshold is much lower than what Tesla was earlier ready to commit, about $2 billion if import taxes were lowered for the first few years.