Tesla slashed $2,000 off the prices of three out of its five models in the United States, reflecting the challenges faced by the electric vehicle manufacturer led by billionaire Elon Musk. The price reductions applied to the Model Y, Tesla’s bestselling electric vehicle in the US, along with the Models X and S, its older and pricier models. However, prices for the Model 3 sedan and the Cybertruck remained unchanged. Consequently, the starting price for a Model Y dropped to $42,990, while the Model S and Model X now start at $72,990 and $77,990, respectively.

The move came the day after Tesla’s stock tumbled below USD 150 per share, eliminating all gains made over the past year. The Austin, Texas, company’s stock price has dropped about 40 per cent so far this year amid falling sales and increased competition. Discounted sticker prices are a way to try to entice more car buyers. Musk posted early Saturday on X, the social media platform known as Twitter before he acquired and renamed it, that the cost of an entry-level Tesla was as low as USD 29,490 once a federal tax credit and gas savings were factored in.

Industry analysts have been waiting for Tesla to introduce a small electric vehicle that would cost around USD 25,000, the Model 2. Media reports this month that Musk planned to scrap the project created more uncertainty over the company’s direction, although Musk called them untrue.

The price cuts ended a long workweek at Tesla, which announced Monday that it was cutting 10 per cent of its staff globally, about 14,000 jobs. The company also said it was recalling nearly 4,000 of its 2024 Cybertrucks after discovering the accelerator pedal can get stuck, potentially causing the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally and increase the risk of a crash.

On Saturday, Musk confirmed he had postponed a planned weekend trip to India to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing “very heavy Tesla obligations.” He said on X that he looked forward to rescheduling the visit for later this year.

Tesla is scheduled to announce its first-quarter earnings on Tuesday. The company reported earlier this month that its worldwide sales fell sharply from January through March as competition increased worldwide, electric vehicle sales growth slowed, and earlier price cuts failed to lure more buyers. It was Tesla’s first year-over-year quarterly sales decline in nearly four years.

The highly anticipated visit of Elon Musk, the CEO of electric vehicle giant Tesla, to India has been temporarily put on hold. “Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year,” Musk said in a post on social media platform X, on April 20.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk on the X platform wrote, “Looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India,” on April 10, 2024. Elon Musk was scheduled to meet PM Modi on April 22 in New Delhi. Musk and PM Modi last met in New York in June, and Tesla has continued for months lobbying India to lower import taxes on electric vehicles while it weighed up a factory in the country.

According to the Hindu Businessline report, Tesla has been on the hunt for a local partner to establish an EV unit in India. Citing sources, the English daily said Tesla is in talks with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RIL) to form a joint venture to set up an EV facility in the country. Additionally, the Financial Times earlier this month reported that Elon Musk had sent a team to India in April to scout for sites for a proposed $2 billion to $3 billion electric car plant.

Musk was reportedly poised to disclose plans for injecting nearly ₹3 billion into the Indian market, primarily earmarked for the establishment of a new manufacturing facility. Meanwhile, the license application of Musk’s satellite venture Starlink is under process, and the government is examining the security aspects, news agency PTI reported citing sources. The FDI and financial aspects are in sync with the requirements and conditions, the report said, adding that the ownership ‘declaration’ has also been received from Starlink.

MG Motor India is expanding its footprint to tier III and IV cities across the country, aiming to establish 100 new touchpoints by the end of the ongoing fiscal year. This strategic move is part of the company’s plan to drive the next phase of growth, according to a senior company official. With JSW Group joining as an investor and becoming a joint venture partner with China’s SAIC, MG Motor India announced plans to invest Rs 5,000 crore. The company has set an ambitious target of selling one million units of passenger electric vehicles in India by 2030, projecting a total market of 10 million units annually.

Ola Electric has announced a significant reduction in the price of its entry-level electric scooter, the S1 X, as part of its strategy to bolster its market presence and enhance competitiveness. The price cuts vary between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 across different variants of the scooter.

The revised prices for the Ola S1 X are as follows:

• S1 X with a 4kWh battery will now be priced at Rs 99,999.
• S1 X with a 3kWh battery is now priced at Rs 84,999.
• The variant with a 2kWh battery will cost Rs 69,999.

Anshul Khandelwal, Chief Marketing Officer of Ola Electric, emphasized the company’s commitment to making electric vehicles (EVs) more accessible to Indian consumers. He highlighted the importance of offering competitive pricing to encourage wider adoption of EVs in the country.

Fresh deliveries of the Ola S1 X scooter are set to commence next week, further reinforcing the company’s efforts to meet growing demand in the market.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of India’s EV market, Ola Electric faces stiff competition from established players such as Ather Energy, Bajaj Chetak, TVS Motors, and Vida. Ather Energy, for instance, offers its Ather 450S scooter at Rs 1,26,000, with the Ather 450X variants priced between Rs 1,41,000 to Rs 1,55,000, depending on battery capacity. Additionally, Ather recently expanded its product lineup with the introduction of the ‘Rizta’ family electric scooter, priced between Rs 1,09,999 and Rs 1,44,999 (ex-showroom Bengaluru).

Automobile exports from India declined 5.5 per cent in FY24 due to the monetary crisis in various overseas markets.

On the backdrop of a robust economic growth of 7.6 per cent the Indian automobile industry posted a satisfactory growth of 12.5 per cent during financial year 2023- 24, with passenger vehicle segment leading the growth with overall sales touching almost 5 million units even as the industry remains optimistic amidst positive macroeconomic outlook.

The PV dispatches growth includes a growth of 8.4 per cent in the India market taking the sales to 4.2 million and 0.7 million exports, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Friday, releasing the auto industry sales performance of the last month, the fourth quarter ended March and financial year 2023-24.

Passenger Vehicle registered growth of 12 per cent in Q4. Nomura Ratings in its outlook for the sector in FY25F, expects rebalancing of growth where high-growth segments like PV/MHCV will see a slowdown while mass segments like 2Ws will see some recovery. “The PV industry inventory levels remain elevated, and we expect growth to moderate to 4 per cent yoy in FY25 from 8 per cent yoy in FY24. In 2Ws, rural recovery should support demand and drive 10 per cent growth in FY25,” say Nomura auto analysts Kapil Singh and Siddhartha Bera.

The industry wrapped up FY24 with domestic sales of PVs at 42,18,746 units, sales of CVs at 9,67,878 units, three-wheelers at 6,91,749 units and two-wheeler at 1,79,74,365 units. The total production of passenger vehicles, CV, three wheelers, two wheelers and quadricycle in FY24 was 2,84,34,742 units. In FY24, two-wheeler segment continued the recovery path with a handsome growth of over 13 per cent in domestic sales to almost 18 million units, even though still lower than the earlier peak of 21 million units in FY19.

Domestic commercial vehicle industry had a marginal growth to 9.7 million units. “All in all, it has been a satisfactory performance for the Indian automobile industry,” said Vinod Aggarwal, President, SIAM who marks FY2024 as the year which also demonstrated the sustainability commitments of the auto industry as it commenced producing vehicles which are material compliant to 20 per cent ethanol and witnessed growth of 90 per cent in electric PVs and 30 per cent in electric 2W. “Coupled with good monsoon outlook, we are expecting continued growth for the industry this year as well,” says Aggarwal.

In the month of March 2024, domestic sales of PVs were 3,68,086 units, sales of three-wheeler sales were 56,723 units and sales of two-wheeler were 14,87,579 units. In March 2024, the total production of passenger vehicles, three wheelers, two wheelers and quadricycle was 23,25,959 units. In the January-March (Q4) quarter of FY2024, the performance in terms of domestic sales continued to be robust across categories.

The domestic sales of PVs were 11,35,501 units in the quarter under review, sales of CVs were 2,68,294 units, three-wheeler sales were 1,64,844 units and two-wheeler sales were 45,03,523 units. The total production of PVs, CVs, three wheelers, two wheelers and quadricycle in Q4 was 73,94,417 units.

Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM informed that 2 wheelers posted sales of 4.5 mn units with a significant growth of 25 per cent compared to Q4 of FY 2022-23 and PVs registered growth of 12 per cent and posted sales of more than 1.1 mn units. Three wheelers posted sales of 1.65 lakh units with a growth of 7 per cent, CVs registered degrowth of (-) 4 per cent by posting sales of more than 2.68 lakh units.