Tesla’s rival in electric vehicles, Triton Electric Vehicle has announced recently that it is planning to setting up a manufacturing plant in Gujarat, India. It will EV manufacturer's first manufacturing facility in India. The manufacturing plant will be spread across 600 acres. And the plant will be built in 3 million square feet area, as revealed by Himanshu Patel, CEO, and founder of Triton.
Triton’s announcement has come at a time when Tesla is yet to enter the Indian market officially. The EV company has been planning to launch imported cars to the Indian market by finding the import duty much higher. It has been in discussion with the Indian government and sought lower import duty. However, the central government has been pushing for a local manufacturing facility, which Tesla is yet to finalize.
So, in this situation setting up a manufacturing plant in India by a Tesla rivaling EV manufacturing company is expected to boost the electric mobility ecosystem of the country. Also, it would boost the Indian electric car market as well. Gujarat is one of the states in India that have already announced a dedicated EV policy. The Triton manufacturing plant would benefit from the Gujarat EV policy.
Unlike Triton, Tesla will only be focusing on selling in the Indian market and not manufacturing here. However, the Indian government has been trying to attract the Elon Musk-led company into manufacturing in the country by giving subsidies and other benefits. Indian transport minister Nitin Gadkari, in an interview with Reuters, said that India is ready to offer incentives to make sure Tesla’s cost of production remains lower than China if the company committed to starting making EVs domestically. However, Tesla has been getting resistance from the government in various aspects. It looks like Triton is ahead in the Indian market.
