Tesla received orders for just over 600 cars in India since its launch: Report
Elon Musk has reportedly expected import tariffs in India to lower over time as trade negotiations with the US took place.
- Sep 3, 2025,
- Updated Sep 3, 2025 3:39 PM IST
Tesla has received orders for just over 600 cars since it launched its models in India, said a report, which added that this did not meet the company’s expectations.
According to a report in Bloomberg, Tesla delivered a similar number of vehicles every four hours globally in the first half of the year. The Elon Musk-led company is now planning to ship 350-500 cars to India this year. As per the report, the first batch is slated to land from Shanghai in early September.
It stated that deliveries will initially be limited to Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Gurugram. The size of the shipment is based on the full payments Tesla received for the cars as well as the company’s ability to deliver outside of the four cities.
Tesla had initially aimed to utilise its full 2,500 car annual quota this year, as per an earlier report by Bloomberg.
The company was reportedly banking on Elon Musk’s close relationship with US Donald Trump but that plan has unraveled owing to their very-public fallout, the deteriorating bilateral ties between the US and India, and high local import taxes.
Due to the high import tariffs, an entry-level Tesla would cost $68,000, which is over Rs 59 lakh, making it an exorbitant vehicle and out of reach for a wide majority of Indian customers.
The report stated that Musk expected import tariffs in India to lower over time as trade negotiations with the US took place. On the contrary, the trade talks have stalled for longer than expected, and Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
However, as EV sales go in India, just over 2,800 electric cars were sold in the first half of 2025. These were priced almost at half of a Tesla. An order number of 600 is not entirely disappointing.
Tesla has received orders for just over 600 cars since it launched its models in India, said a report, which added that this did not meet the company’s expectations.
According to a report in Bloomberg, Tesla delivered a similar number of vehicles every four hours globally in the first half of the year. The Elon Musk-led company is now planning to ship 350-500 cars to India this year. As per the report, the first batch is slated to land from Shanghai in early September.
It stated that deliveries will initially be limited to Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Gurugram. The size of the shipment is based on the full payments Tesla received for the cars as well as the company’s ability to deliver outside of the four cities.
Tesla had initially aimed to utilise its full 2,500 car annual quota this year, as per an earlier report by Bloomberg.
The company was reportedly banking on Elon Musk’s close relationship with US Donald Trump but that plan has unraveled owing to their very-public fallout, the deteriorating bilateral ties between the US and India, and high local import taxes.
Due to the high import tariffs, an entry-level Tesla would cost $68,000, which is over Rs 59 lakh, making it an exorbitant vehicle and out of reach for a wide majority of Indian customers.
The report stated that Musk expected import tariffs in India to lower over time as trade negotiations with the US took place. On the contrary, the trade talks have stalled for longer than expected, and Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
However, as EV sales go in India, just over 2,800 electric cars were sold in the first half of 2025. These were priced almost at half of a Tesla. An order number of 600 is not entirely disappointing.