Maharashtra’s transport minister Pratap Sarnaik takes delivery of first Tesla

Mumbai: Maharashtra’s transport minister Pratap Sarnaik has become the first person in India to own a Tesla Model Y car - nearly a month after the American carmaker and clean energy company launched the first experience centre-cum-retail-outlet and unveiled the mid-size SUV in Mumbai. 

Sarnaik took delivery of the vehicle coinciding with the Ganeshotsav festivities. 

"I consider myself very fortunate to have purchased India's first Tesla car, Model Y. As the Transport Minister of the state, I tried to buy this and succeeded in doing so…,” Sarnaik said. 

“I have taken this for my grandson… so that there is public awareness. If parents, who can afford to purchase the car, drop their children to schools in these cars then there will be public awareness regarding environment-friendly cars; children will discuss this, and people will purchase more and more environment-friendly cars,” he added. 

The electric vehicle (EV) maker's debut store in India — spread over 4,000 square feet -- is located inside Maker Maxity Mall in the upscale Bandra-Kurla Complex, the central business district of Mumbai. 

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had inaugurated the experience centre on July 15 in presence of Tesla’s senior regional director for South Asia, Isabel Fan.

A day after the launch, deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena supremo Eknath Shinde took a test driver in the car.

In the first week of July, Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt Ltd -- the Indian subsidiary of Tesla -- received a trade certificate from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Andheri.

Sarnaik, a four-time MLA from Ovala-Majiwada in Thane district, was an autorickshaw driver in Thane district before his foray into politics.

Speaking to reporters, he said that the Maharashtra government is making all efforts to have the maximum number of electric vehicles on the streets in the next 10 years. "We are making sustained efforts," he said.