U.S. electric carmaker Tesla has signed a lease agreement to open its first showroom in Mumbai, registration documents show, after abandoning similar plans last year and now moving towards selling imported cars in India.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company has signed a five-year lease starting from February 16, 2025, and will pay about $446,000 (roughly Rs. 388 crore) in rent in the first year for 4,003 square feet (372 square meters), which is almost the size of a basketball court, documents show.
According to the registered lease documents provided to Reuters by analytics firm CRE Matrix, rent will rise by 5% annually, taking the total cost to more than $2.5 million (about 210 million rupees) over five years.
According to reports, the showroom will be located at the Maker Maxity building in the Bandra Kurla complex business and retail hub near the city’s airport.
Reuters reported last month that Tesla had selected two showroom locations in New Delhi and Mumbai, days after the automaker’s CEO Elon Musk met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the United States. Musk is a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and leads his so-called Department of Government Effectiveness.
Tesla has since posted nearly two dozen mid-level positions in India, including store, service and customer relationship managers.
The Tesla showroom space has been booked close to the Apple store in the Jio World Drive mall, which is run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance.
Although Tesla plans to sell imported cars from its Indian showrooms, tariffs of more than 100% are still weighing on the automaker, and Musk has repeatedly complained that the tariffs are among the highest in the world.
Musk has the backing of Trump, who has repeatedly complained about India’s high taxes, especially on cars, and threatened reciprocal action.
Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday that the United States wants India to eliminate auto import tariffs under the two countries’ proposed trade deal, but New Delhi is unwilling to immediately reduce such duties to zero even as it considers further cuts.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
