[ADI7YAK]

Bangalore gets India's first Model 3. This particular car is a dual motor long range variant and is a private import. It shares garage with expensive guzzlers like a Bentley Mulsanne and Porsche 911 GT3 RS.





Pic credits : Tesla Club India

[DarthVeda]

why would this person do an import with the launch being so close, i mean, he/she has already waited 5 years, what's there to wait for another year

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by DarthVeda

why would this person do an import with the launch being so close, i mean, he/she has already waited 5 years, what's there to wait for another year

May be because the reports say Tesla is only going to launch the Model 3 Standard Range which only has a single rear motor. This is the long range dual motor which not only has much better range, it also has much better performance. I say performance as if the standard range is slow - 5.5 second to 100 is no slouch and rupee for rupee is amongst the fastest at the price Tesla Model 3 is expected to launch at.

[udaikalra01]

Import duties are the highest in India for electric vehicles out of all large countries : Elon Musk

[barefeetdriver]

Originally Posted by giri1.8

Biggest downside I see is the 140mm unladen ground clearance. With the critical component i.e battery close to the ground, this might be a problem for our roads.

Yes this should be Elon's and everyone's biggest concern, not range or charging infrastructure or the Indian Government's taxation policies. 140mm unladen is in league with Skodas and VWs and with its elongated wheelbase the 3 is bound to scrape.

And even without official India specs its obvious the test mules are riding loooow. Maybe Tesla will innovate and come up with an India specific bouncy underbody coating.

[giri1.8]

Lots of words like clean energy, climate change being thrown around, but Tesla has been accused of suggesting customers to replace the entire car, which usually needs small repair work, this along with some right to repair issues being reported makes me think they want to go the Apple way of replace not repair, which actually damages the environment more.

On a side note, hope we get the speculated model 2 too, with good service back.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by giri1.8

Lots of words like clean energy, climate change being thrown around, but Tesla has been accused of suggesting customers to replace the entire car, which usually needs small repair work, this along with some right to repair issues being reported makes me think they want to go the Apple way of replace not repair, which actually damages the environment more.

On a side note, hope we get the speculated model 2 too, with good service back.

Can you please cite some examples of Tesla suggesting the customer to replace the entire car in case of a small repair? In case of an accidental repair, its not Tesla who decides whether to repair or replace the car but the insurance company. So I wonder what "small repair" is it for which Tesla is suggesting the customer to buy a brand new car? I would like to understand the circumstances. And please name one other phone company which repair's a phone, not by not replacing the part but by repairing the actual part?

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Can you please cite some examples of Tesla suggesting the customer to replace the entire car in case of a small repair? In case of an accidental repair, its not Tesla who decides whether to repair or replace the car but the insurance company. So I wonder what "small repair" is it for which Tesla is suggesting the customer to buy a brand new car? I would like to understand the circumstances. And please name one other phone company which repair's a phone, not by not replacing the part but by repairing the actual part?

Saw it on some video, unable to locate it again, but quick google search has given me the below links. Feel free to read them.

16000$ part replacement instead of 700$ child part.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/41493/...repair-matters

Many phone makers may not be interested to service your phone, but Apple is know to make 3rd party service a bit more harder than other brands. Same is true with Tesla.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/fortune...sla-hacks/amp/

More than 6 months to repair front fender and suspension.

https://www.sfgate.com/cars/amp/tesl...r-13796037.php

Interesting read from Tesla motors club.

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/thre...htmare.186966/

Someone accidentally backs in to a Tesla? Wait for 3 months without any updates!!!

https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors...tent=post_body

I have been following them for a very long time and service seems to be a known issue with them. Have read plenty of stories of their cars getting blacklisted (they cannot use the supercharging network) due to third party repair.

[Venkatesh]

Elon Musk sees a possibility of Tesla factory in India if the imported cars are able to succeed.



Link

[udaikalra01]

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal is against the lowering of import duties on EVs, pushes local manufacturing.

The statement goes against Hyundai's MD and Elon Musk who said that the import duties must be lowered. And Hyundai has the highest investment in Ola Electric, which is around 300 million dollars.

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by udaikalra01

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal is against the lowering of import duties on EVs, pushes local manufacturing.

Though I respect the guy for what he did with Ola electric, this is pure b*** s***. If he wants to build indigenously, why does he make his first product out of the Engineering & design from a Dutch startup Etergo. May be Ola should have come up with an original idea for an electric scooter and then built it locally.

I think this statement is a fear of competition for the Electric scooter/2 wheeler imports from abroad, which might eat into Ola's share or may be future plans. As a consumer, more options the better or else Ola will become another Maruti Suzuki in the Electric scooter space and won't push the boundaries of Engineering. Just stay as a compliance engineering company.

< End of Rant >

[anjan_c2007]

Interesting news about Tesla here. The post # 180 on the thread below shares a link which says that Tesla has for the first time in its history surpassed the $ 1 billion profit milestone, with the $ 1.1 billion profit reported during the second quarter of 2021:-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/inter...ml#post5111419 (Interesting International Websites and Links On Automobiles!)

[officer416]

Originally Posted by carthick1000

Though I respect the guy for what he did with Ola electric, this is pure b*** s***. If he wants to build indigenously, why does he make his first product out of the Engineering & design from a Dutch startup Etergo. May be Ola should have come up with an original idea for an electric scooter and then built it locally.

I think this statement is a fear of competition for the Electric scooter/2 wheeler imports from abroad, which might eat into Ola's share or may be future plans. As a consumer, more options the better or else Ola will become another Maruti Suzuki in the Electric scooter space and won't push the boundaries of Engineering. Just stay as a compliance engineering company.

< End of Rant >

Acquiring technology and setting up production facility are two different things. When Tesla started they brought in chassis from Lotus, and then did their own thing with it. I am sure Elon was smart enough to build his own chassis but at that time that was the most cost effective thing. Recently they have acquired startups and companies from Canada, Germany etc. Its not that they are not capable of developing batteries, but they still acquired Maxwell for their technology. That is a business move.

VW and Hyundai owns stake in Rimac because they need their electric technology to power their own cars while none of them produce any cars on Croatia. Apple has acquired startups from Canada, Finland, Ireland and Israel for their technology in last one year, now its not that apple doesn't have engineering talent to produce their own tech, but its a business move.

India is making rifles in Amethi, UP which is developed by Russians, but its produced in India which provides employment to locals and cost effectiveness. Tata and Bajaj has gained a lot with their stakes in JLR and KTM. I don't think any TATA car is produced in UK.

Also Etergo wasn't any successful venture. They raised money through crowdfunding for which numerous lawsuits are already filed in Netherlands and weren't able to deliver any scooters since their inception in 2014.

Just because its Tesla doesn't mean we have to give them some red carpet treatment. It's business not a charitable organization.

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by officer416

It's business not a charitable organization.

I understand completely your viewpoint. No one should get red carpet treatment. Neither Tesla nor Ola. None of these are having a charitable goal. I am looking it from a consumer point of view. One business trying to push their agenda just because it is a homegrown business is bad for the consumers. Then we don't see competition coming in. Without competition, consumers have almost no say. Just buy what the businesses provide and get content with it.

If you also look at what Hyundai and Tesla proposes, they all want a transition period with reduced import duties atleast for EVs. After transition period, they might end up setting up shop like the German companies which came in earlier as CBUs. Trying to push away competition and rallying for them to stay away from market is too bad, IMHO.

[SKC-auto]

While I hate to see Chinese cars and 2 wheelers on Indian roads, I agree with Tesla's middle of the ground proposal of 40% duty(may be for 2 years) for EVs. It will give a chance for automakers like VW, Renault (apart from Tesla) to test their EVs. May be such a reduction in duty should only be applied to cars, to keep Bhavish happy.

Tesla is selling 30K cars every month in China, all luxury makers combined sell 30K cars in an year in India. With great difficulty they may reach 5000 cars sales in an year here. I do not think it warrants a factory(unless all RHD cars are made here).