Vishal Gondal, a Tesla fan from Mumbai, said he was excited by the Tesla Model 3’s “cutting edge EV technology” and pre-ordered it in April 2016.
Gondal, founder and CEO of health tech startup GOQii, expected the car to arrive within a year or two, but nearly eight years later, it still hasn’t arrived and he hasn’t received a direct update from Tesla on the status of its delivery.
He said the latest information he had received was “Tweets from Elon Musk and news articles hinting at a possible launch in India, but nothing concrete.”
“As of now, there has been no official communication from Tesla regarding its launch in India,” Gondal told BI.
He eventually gave in and bought an electric SUV from German automaker Audi instead, and says he’s “very happy with the car and the service Audi provides.”
Gondal is one of several Tesla fans in India who pre-ordered a Model 3 in 2016 but waited years without receiving their car.
He showed BI a copy of the order receipt, which read, “Model 3 production is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2017, with deliveries to North America first, followed by Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and right-hand drive countries.”
Gondal said he wasn’t told how much the car would cost after taxes or exactly when it would be delivered, but he put down a down payment anyway.
“Initially I thought I could wait a year or two, but I ended up waiting for almost eight years without even getting a car,” Gondal told BI.
Musk’s electric vehicle company in 2016 invited Indian customers to pre-order new models with a $1,000 down payment.
Another customer of Mumbai-based designer Hemant Sattar said he waited six years to get his refund, due in 2023, according to the Associated Press.
Gondal said he remains a fan of Musk and admires Tesla’s innovation, but the experience has made him more cautious.
“I would only consider buying a Tesla in India if it had a clear and credible market strategy, strong customer support and if I could see the car with my own eyes in India,” he said.
But getting the deposit back was a bit of a challenge, Gondal said.
“Tesla requested a ton of documentation and after an extensive investigation, we were finally able to trace the refund transaction with our bank,” Gondal said. “It wasn’t easy, but our persistence paid off.”
Tesla fans in India will have to wait
In January 2022, Elon Musk said Tesla was “still working through a number of challenges” with the Indian government, and one of its sticking points was high import taxes on electric vehicles.
But in March, India handed Tesla a big win: It reduced import taxes on electric vehicles made by companies that commit to investing at least $500 million and starting domestic production within three years, according to Reuters.
Under the new rules, companies will be able to import 8,000 EVs priced above $35,000 a year at a tax rate of 15%, down from previous rates of 70-100%, according to Reuters.
Reuters reported in April that Tesla was planning to build a new Tesla factory in India as part of a $2 billion to $3 billion investment in the country.
Musk was scheduled to announce these plans during a visit to India in April, but canceled the trip that month, citing “very significant obligations to Tesla.”
Representatives for Tesla did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
