Tesla opened the doors to its First exhibition hall in India This week, and among the first visitors were Vishal Gondal-delongated loyalist from Tesla and Elon Musk, who pre-reserve model 3 in April 2016, just hours after reserves lived. But despite showing on the first day, Gondal says he has no plans to buy Tesla now.
“I felt a little undermined,” said Gondal, founder and general manager of Fitness-Tech Startup Goqii, after a visit from the Miss Tesla show on the Bandra-Kurla complex of Mumbai.
During the better part of a decade, Gondal endured hope for Tesla’s debut in India. But his excitement shook when he had to hunt the company for a refund in 2023 – sending multiple emails only to get his backup fee of $ 1,000.
“Trying to get the money back was a problem,” he told Techcrunch. “And the joke was whether we invested that money in a tesla ship, we would have raised more money.”
Gondal is among Tesla’s earliest supporters in India, who had pre-reserve a vehicle long before there were guarantees. But nine years old, it seems that many of these early believers do not celebrate the launch and instead made up their mind no Go with Tesla, at least in his debut.
Those supporters never got their 3S model, for which they paid the backup fee shortly after Musk promised to launch the car in the country. And some, like Gondal, even waited and tried hard for years to get the refund, while some got it in May, just a few months before Tesla’s formal debut.
“It’s frustrating to see Tesla last for so long. I mean, our government and processes and red carpet are difficult, but it’s fun that even Starlink has gained approval in a shorter period,” said Varun Krishnan, who manages Chennai’s technological blog and Chennai’s Fonerenary Blog and is also one of Tesla’s early Backers in India.
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Tesla did not invite these loyalists to visit its Mumbai show, nor did they give them an update on the launch.
The 6,000-square-foot Tesla showroom is located in Maker Maxity Mall, near Apple’s first store in the country. However, Gondal said that Tesla’s store was nowhere to be that of the launch of Apple Store.
“When Apple launched its exhibition hall in the same place, the mouth that Apple could create against the noise that Tesla could create is a world of difference,” he said.
Gondal went to the Tesla exhibition hall in his Audi-Tro, which he bought the previous year, after waiting for a long time for the Model 3.
“This felt the coldest launch,” said Amit Bhavani, founder of a technological blog Phoneradar, who also prevailed the model 3 in 2016.
Bhavani later got the $ 1,000 refund after criticizing Tesla in a Video Released on YouTube in 2020.
The video received comments from dozens of people who also reserved model 3 in India and waited for a refund, he said.
“This is when I felt that all the love for Tesla became a real hatred for Tesla,” he told Techcrunch.
“The least Tesla could do was email all the people who booked the car earlier and said, ‘Guys, we’ll have a special event for you’,” Gondal said. “Those people really went out, and though let’s say it’s not a large amount, it said we support Tesla.”
Some others, like Kawaljit Singh Bedi, said they didn’t regret Tesla’s support, though they got the refund just before the launch this year. However, they are also not looking to buy Tesla soon.
“After all these years I waited, I’m not rushing to buy it now and become the first to have it, because what’s the point? I waited nine years? I can wait nine years and six months more,” said Singh, co -founder and Frammer Ai CTO.
“Most of them who were disappointed, including, I know, Vishal and Vijay [Shekhar Sharma of Paytm]”Said Krishnan.” People like Vishal or Vijay, they are taken with much authority. So, if they buy something, it would be 100 people by their word. ”
Sharma, founder and general manager of Indian Fintech -giant Paytm, Echois comments from other early supporters, telling Techcrunch that he will not go with Tesla and would rather wait for a larger portfolio of cars.
“It may be a little too late,” he said. “There are so many other options with price-value mathematics more suitable for India.”
The long-standing delay in the launch of Tesla-Kune with not being invited to the exhibition opening-left some of the Mark’s earliest Indian loyalists, said Arun Bhatt, founder of founder. Tesla club Indiawhich also pre-reserve model 3 in 2016
“You paid for something and you were waiting for 10 years, and then out of the blue, they just tell you, we’ll cancel it and we’ll repay, then what happens – 10 years waiting for something, will we get a preferable treatment?” He questioned. “There is zero communication about this. So, eight out of 10 reserve owners are frustrated.”
Bhatt started the club with another Tesla enthusiast and student at Delhi University, Nikhil Chaudhary, in 2019 as an informal group for people who have an interest in the evader. However, he told Techcrunch that due to the delay in launching Tesla in the country, the club slowly changed from Tesla conscious club to EV and a clean energy conscious club.
No clarity of after-sales and local supercharge networks
One of the concerns that many early Tesla supporters have is the lack of clarity on how Tesla will set the supercharger in the country and handle after-sales care. The company announced that it will set up eight freight stations, also distributed through Delhi and Mumbai, before starting its deliveries in Q3. However, it is unclear whether these will be enough to provide enough support to Tesla drivers in these two cities. Additionally, there are no ads on how Tesla plans to deal with after-sales service of their cars in India.
“Girving in nine years, I was also more wise in my shopping process of vehicles. I care more about practical things than just the Tesla brand, which I fell in love with 10 years ago,” said Krishnan de Fonearena.
“There is no real excitement to own the first car, knowing that there is no overload network,” Frammer’s Kawaljit said.
Musk’s political interest and even conflict with Trump turns off some Indian drivers
In recent months, Musk’s public person has experienced a move – from a visionary entrepreneur managing multiple companies to a polarizing political figure in the United States this transformation has influenced Tesla’s share and business Not only in the United States but also in key international markets. India seems to be no exception.
“After the whole elections and the policy, and whatever happens, I don’t see an elus with the same colors as what I used to,” Krishnan said Phonearenan.
Kunal Khattar, an EV focus investor in India and founder of VC company Avstatedge founders, echoed Krishnan’s feeling, saying Tesla lost “some of his brilliance” because of several factors-inclusively of Musk’s political involvement, his alignment with Trump and the public fall.
“People used to think that Tesla saves the world, it saves the climate, and this and that, it no longer exists,” he said.
Khattar was invited to the launch of Tesla in Mumbai. Like Goqii and others Gondal, he also described it as “hindered” and “not as a typical launch of a vehicle.”
The 1% playground
Tesla launched the Y model in India, starting from ₹ 59.89,000 (about $ 68,000). Some compare the Indian price with that of the Model Y in the United States, which starts at $ 44.990 (₹ 38.71,000). However, the driver imports the car from China-under manufacturing it locally in the country-something, which the industry usually calls completely built (CBU). This adds to rates that Tesla will pay for a while until it decides to set up a local factory, and so customers will have to pay an excessive price.
In India, the prize segment, which starts from ₹ 35,00,000 (about $ 40,700) and goes up to ₹ 1,00,00,000 (about $ 116,200), contains only 1% of the total cars sales in India, about 50,000 vehicles. However, in that 1%, electric cars have almost 10% share so far, according to Puneet Gupta, director, S&P Global Mobility.
“With Tesla coming in, and if Tesla is really starting to make in India, maybe two years in the line, there is no doubt that it will make a strong case for all these OEMs [original equipment manufacturers]including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi, make a vehicle for our Indian client for the first time, “he said.” The problem is that India has never been able to convince these OEMs that they can really make an Indian central product, and it will have enough volumes. ”
In total, electric cars sales in India represented only 2.5% of the total market in 2024, by counterpoint. But it was “almost negligible” in 2016, when Tesla initially announced his entry. This was also the reason why people showed a lot of interest in Tesla then.
“These days, everyone can get a beautiful, wonderful, over powerful electric vehicle in India. So, Tesla is not something” Wow “worthy, except for 5-10 minutes, people should only ask to look in it,” Bhawani of Phoneeradar said.
India’s car giant Tata Motors has ruled the country’s electric car market in recent years, though others -including a China MG engine, which has recently signed a joint venture with an Indian conglomerate JSW group -begins to gain land.
The prize segment remains a niche in the country, although the growing number of precious individuals has led to a 66 percent year-old increase in the sales of Premium EVs over the first five months of 2025, Abhik Mukherjee, a research analyst for a car and IoT at Counterpoint, told Techcrunch.
BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Volvo, and selected models from Hyundai and what sits in the segment, where Tesla brought the Y model to the country.
“Tesla’s current price point is unlikely to cause some tooth to the brands operating in that price range,” Mukherjee said.
However, Tesla’s debut is likely to attract some customer attention to electric cars in a market, where two wheels rule the eV space.
“People will at least put EVs in their consideration. Will Tesla sell many cars? I don’t think so … Will Tesla increase the sales of other evalms? I think,” Khattar of Advatedge Founders said.
