Tesla’s first India dealership to come up in Mumbai? Company scouting for store manager, others

The maiden Tesla dealership in India could be located in Mumbai as the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer is looking to hire a store manager and a service manager, among others, in Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Tesla has posted at least 13 new openings on its LinkedIn page, with the job location being Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The workplace type is on-site, which requires employees to work from a physical workplace.

Following are the 13 new openings.

• Consumer Engagement Manager – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Order Operations Specialist – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Customer Support Specialist – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Tesla Advisor – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Business Operations Analyst – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Service Manager – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Delivery Operations Specialist – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Inside Sales Advisor – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Store Manager – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Service Advisor – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Parts Advisor – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Service Technician – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)
• Customer Support Supervisor – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (on-site)

The development follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the USA last week, where he met Tesla CEO Elon Musk, among others.

“Prime Minister and Musk discussed strengthening collaboration between Indian and US entities in innovation, space exploration, artificial intelligence, and sustainable development. Their discussion also touched on opportunities to deepen cooperation in emerging technologies, entrepreneurship and good governance,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in an official statement.

Over the past couple of years, Tesla has been scouting for a location to set up its maiden factory in India with an investment of USD 2-3 billion. The company has reportedly looked at the auto hubs of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Carmakers like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata, Mahindra, MG, Volkswagen, Skoda, Nissan, Renault, Citroen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi have a production facility in at least one of the three states.

Musk was scheduled to visit India in April 2024. Although his visit was postponed, the talks continued between the government and the entities closely associated with Tesla and the company itself regarding its entry into the Indian market.

The government even announced a new EV policy in March 2024 to smoothen the entry of global carmakers, including Tesla, into India.

According to the policy, the EV manufacturers require a minimum investment of Rs 4,150 crore, with a three-year time frame for setting up manufacturing facilities and commencing commercial production. A 25% localisation is expected to be in place by the third year, and this further increases to 50% by the fifth year, to avail the lower customs duty of 15% on completely knocked down (CKD) units for five years.

Under the policy, companies can import up to 8,000 EVs every year, having a cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value of USD 35,000 and above.

In FY24, India overtook Japan to become the third-largest car market globally with the wholesales increasing 8.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) at 42,29,566 units.