Tesla signs deal for first India showroom to sell imported EVs

The papers show the company has signed a five-year lease from February 16, 2025 and will pay rent of about $446,000 for the first year for a 4,003 square feet (372 square meter) space, almost the size of a basketball court.

New Delhi: US electric carmaker Tesla has signed a lease deal to open its first showroom in Mumbai, as it moves towards a goal to sell imported cars in India, registration papers show, after it dropped similar plans last year.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The papers show the company has signed a five-year lease from February 16, 2025, and will pay rent of about $446,000 for the first year for 4,003 square feet (372 square meters), almost the size of a basketball court.

The rent will increase by 5 per cent every year, with a total expense over five years of over $2.5 million, according to the registered lease document provided to Reuters by analytics firm CRE Matrix.

The showroom will be situated in the Maker Maxity building in the business and retail hub of Bandra Kurla Complex near the city's airport, according to the papers.

Reuters reported last month that Tesla had selected locations for two showrooms in New Delhi and Mumbai, days after the carmaker's chief, Elon Musk, met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US Musk is a close ally of US President Donald Trump and is heading up his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Tesla has since posted close to two dozen mid-level jobs in India, including store, service and customer relationship managers.

The Tesla showroom space has been booked close to an Apple retail outlet in a nearby mall of Jio World Drive, run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance.

While Tesla plans to sell imported cars from its India showrooms, tariffs of over 100 per cent still weigh on the carmaker, with Musk repeatedly complaining that they are among the steepest in the world.

Musk has found support from Trump, who has repeatedly railed against India's high taxes, especially on automobiles, and has threatened reciprocal action.

Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday that the United States wants India to eliminate tariffs on car imports under a proposed trade deal between the two nations, but New Delhi is reluctant to immediately bring down such duties to zero even as it considers further cuts.