US electric vehicle maker Tesla is now accelerating its push into the Indian market, this time with a new showroom in Delhi. The company, which opened its second “experience centre” at Aerocity in the National Capital Region (NCR), announced on Monday that it plans to begin vehicle deliveries in India by September. This comes less than a month after Tesla’s initial market debut in Mumbai.
It is expected that this development will compel domestic EV players to accelerate their own EV developments as well. Prior to its recent retail expansion, Tesla’s journey into the Indian market was marked by years of stalled negotiations and a cautious, on-again, off-again approach. From Elon Musk’s initial tweets teasing a market entry in 2017 to the company’s official registration of a local entity in 2021, the process was fraught with hurdles. Now, the new Delhi showroom, located in the upscale Worldmark 3 complex, is an 8,200-square-foot facility leased for a nine-year term. This physical footprint is meant to serve as a key access point for customers across the NCR and surrounding northern and western states.
Following the successful launch of its first showroom in Mumbai, Tesla’s regional director for Southeast Asia, Isabel Fan, confirmed that both Delhi and Mumbai are priorities for the company. Fan also shared plans for a phased rollout of its Supercharger network, with new stations slated for Gurugram, Noida, and a second location in South Delhi, as well as new sites in Lower Parel, Navi Mumbai, and Thane to supplement the existing station at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex. Looking beyond the major metros, Fan added that the company “cannot miss Bangalore very soon,” indicating the next major hub for expansion.
Tesla’s India showing revolves around its popular Model Y electric SUV, available in two rear-wheel-drive (RWD) variants. The standard RWD model, with a 60kWh battery, is priced at ₹59.89 lakh (ex-showroom) and offers a claimed range of 500 kilometers on a single charge. The Long Range RWD variant, featuring a 75kWh battery, is priced at ₹67.89 lakh (ex-showroom) and extends the range to an impressive 622 kilometers. Performance figures for both models are robust, with the standard variant accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds and the Long Range version doing so in 5.6 seconds, with both having a top speed of 201 km/h. **An optional Full Self-Driving (FSD) package is also being offered for an additional ₹6 lakh, although the full functionality of the advanced features will depend on future government approvals.
The new Delhi showroom is equipped with four V4 Supercharging stalls, each capable of delivering up to 250kW of power, and combined with the four Superchargers at the Mumbai showroom, brings the total count of operational Superchargers in India to eight, with more on the way. According to company data, a mere 15 minutes of charging on a Supercharger can add up to 238km of range for the standard Model Y and 267km for the Long Range variant.
Tesla has announced that deliveries for the first wave of Model Y bookings are scheduled to commence in the third quarter of the year. The company is prioritizing deliveries to customers in Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, and Pune, with vehicles being transported directly to buyers via flat-bed trucks. The rest of the country, including states like Telangana and Karnataka, will receive deliveries on a standard timeline.
