Tesla India Entry Could Happen In 2015 With Model S & Model X

By Ganesh

Published: Friday, March 14, 2014, 9:56 [IST]

Tesla Made Its Entry Into Europe In 2012 Following its success in its home country, the USA. Now, the California based electric car major is slowing making inroads into Asia, starting with China, where it has already set up a few dealerships.

With Tesla's entry into China already started India could not be far behind. Afterall, the country is proving to be a good home to German luxury cars makers Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. In India where the Tesla Model S electric sedan would fall into the same category holds a lot of potential. And Tesla realises that.

Also Read: Tesla Chinese Site Goes Online, Sales To Commence In 2014

During an interview with ET, Deepak Ahuja, the chief financial officer of Tesla Motors revealed the American automaker's India plans.

Ahuja believes India holds a lot of potential for high volume sales and the right year for Tesla to enter India would be 2015, though he said it would be difficult to make an official announcement just yet.

The company's long pending Model X electric SUV i currently under development and Ahuja believes this would make for an ideal model for Tesla to enter Indian market with.

At the same time, Ahuja also acknowledge the challenges the company would face in terms of lack of charging infrastructure in the country which is currently non-existent.

Tesla Model S sports sedan, the only model currently sold by the automaker, is offered in three variants based on battery performance - 60 kWh, 85 kWh and the its performance version P85.

Model S 60kWh variant has 302 HP, can accelerate to 100 km/h in 6 seconds, has a top speed of 193 km/h and a range of 334 km.

Model S 85 kWh variant has 362 HP, can accelerate to 100 km/h in 5.5 seconds, has a top speed of 201 km/h and a range of 426 km.

Lastly, Model S 85 kWh performance (the P85) variant comes with 416 HP, can accelerate to 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds, has a top speed of 209 km/h and the same range of 426 km.

Making use of Tesla's Supercharger charging infrastructure in the U.S the Model S can be charged up to 50 percent capacity in 20 minutes.