Which T will turbo-charge new EV policy? Toyota more than Tesla
Musk surely knows how to control the narrative and the noise.
His relentless honking at Raisina Hill’s policy making precinct for the last 4 long years did electrify the imagination of the government bureaucracy. That is why the auto industry executives in private see Narendra Modi government’s recently announced new electric vehicle policy, the last business before the announcement before the 2024 elections, predominantly as a red carpet rollout for just one eccentric billionaire: Musk.
Even then to straight jacket the initiative as ‘The Tesla policy’ is a cynical response: The timebound and ceiling based 55-85% import duty cut on electric cars above a certain value, linked to specific localisation and investment milestones to boost domestic manufacturing would benefit incumbents Tata Motors, Hyundai, VW Group as much as it would Musk or accelerate the plans of Phat Nhat Vuong, founder of Vietnamese OEM VinFast, that has been looking to set up base in Tamil Nadu. Predictably therefore, the initial outrage of local players has evaporated post the announcement!
But is there enough juice in the fine print to get Musk all charged up about the purchasing power of our billion plus population for his Models 3, Y or even S? The answer may actually lie outside our shores and even across the border in China – the biggest electric vehicle market where Tesla’s entry in 2019-2020 radically turbo-charged demand and sales. This year a third of all cars sold in China are either battery powered EVs or new energy vehicles (NEVs)
