Noted Indian-American academic, entrepreneur, and author Vivek Wadhwa has strongly criticized billionaire Elon Musk’s decision to establish Tesla’s manufacturing operations in China instead of India. Wadhwa believes that Musk will ultimately be the loser by choosing China over India for manufacturing Tesla electric cars.
In a series of tweets, Wadhwa wrote that he had exchanged emails with Musk a few years ago, warning him about the risks of investing in China. He urged Musk to consider moving manufacturing to India instead, where he believes Tesla would have dominated the market by now.
Last month, Musk had planned a visit to India to announce an investment of up to $3 billion in a car plant. However, he later postponed the visit, citing heavy Tesla obligations. Just days later, Musk visited China and met with Premier Li Qiang, making progress towards rolling out Tesla’s advanced driver assistance package in the world’s largest auto market.
Tesla’s ties to India had shown signs of strengthening in recent months, with expectations building that Tesla may commit about $2 billion to an EV plant in the country. The Indian government has also lowered import taxes on vehicles from foreign carmakers that pledge to invest in local manufacturing. However, any such announcement has been put off, and Indian officials are now hopeful that Musk will invest in the near future due to recent changes to EV policies.
However, according to the Bloomberg news agency, foreign automakers have had trouble finding long-term success in India, the world’s most populous nation. Ford Motor Co. announced in 2022 that it was exploring alternatives for its manufacturing facilities in India, a year after announcing it would cease making cars in the country. Toyota Motor Corp. said in 2020 that it wouldn’t expand further in India due to high tariffs, though it has since announced plans to make some EV components in the country.
