Anand Mahindra ready to embrace Tesla challenge – Car News

Anand MahindraChairperson of Mahindra and Mahindra, is all geared up to face the challenge from Tesla, as electric mobility gains momentum in India. Tesla’s entry in India has been one of the most debated topics over the last couple of years. A global leader in electric four-wheelers, Tesla announced its entry in India by registering itself in Pune, Maharashtra.

However, the American EV carmaker is yet to officially set foot in India by bringing its popular models to our soil. In a response to a query posted by an X (formerly Twitter) user named Girish Arora, Anand Mahindra has openly ready to embrace the challenge from Tesla. This development comes shortly after reports of Tesla recruiting in India started going viral on the Internet.

In his tweet, the X user asked Mahindra how will he handle the competition if Elon Musk brings Tesla to India? Responding to the same, Mahindra said that he has been asked “similar questions ever since the opening up of the Indian economy in 1991.” He further wrote, “And working like maniacs to still be around & relevant even a century from now. With you cheering us on, we will make that happen…”

Arora tagged Tata Motors and Tesla in his Tweet. The post was a response to a video which Anand Mahindra shared from his speech at the Karnataka Investors Summit in Bengaluru on February 15. The hype built around Tesla is mostly attributed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s latest visit to the United States of America where he caught up with Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of Tesla, at the White House, signifying a critical step for Tesla to enter the Indian market.

Tesla in India

Tesla’s entry into India has been like a game of hide and seek with the Indian government initially not in favour of import of Completely Built Units but eventually relenting to reduce tariffs from 110 percent to 70 percent for fully-imported EVs. Previously, the Government of India was in favour of tax concessions to only those companies who are willing to locally manufacture EVs in India.

The reduction in tariffs could prove to be extremely beneficial for Tesla to set up shop here. Musk had previously made it clear that Tesla would not set up a factory in any country unless the company is allowed to set up shop and bring fully imported models with tax concessions. Industry experts are hoping the recent discussion between PM Modi and Musk at the White House will bear some fruit.

Mahindra expanding EV lineup

As we know, Mahindra is one of the leading players in the passenger vehicle EV space. The homegrown carmaker recently launched two brand new Electric Origin EVs — BE 6 and XEV 9e. Mahindra is gearing up to launch a host born EVs in the next few years based on the indigenously developed INGLO architecture and possibly become the leader in India’s four-wheeler EV space which currently Tata Motors enjoys.

Mahindra recently started accepting bookings for BE 6 and XEV 9e. Within an hour of commencement, Mahindra achieved a record 30,179 bookings for both the vehicles. Moreover, the top variants of each model accounted for 73 percent of the total bookings.