Tesla has selected the southwestern Indian city of Bangalore, the "Silicon Valley of India" as the site of its second Asian Gigafactory and the first in India.
"The U.S. firm Tesla will be opening an electric car manufacturing unit in Karnataka," said the government of Karnataka state, of which Bangalore, now officially known as Bengaluru, is the capital.
Tesla incorporated "Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited" with the Indian Registrar of Companies Bangalore on Jan. 8, with the announcement only being made public on Monday.
State Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa tweeted Tesla will start its operations in India by establishing a research and development unit in Bengaluru. Construction of the Gigafactory and its electric battery production line will follow.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had tweeted several times about the company's invasion of India. In December, he tweeted Tesla will launch in India in 2021. He's said India has the potential to become the world's third largest electric vehicle (EV) market.
On Jan.13, Musk tweeted in response to a story about Tesla's entering the Indian market and simply wrote, "As promised." In October 2020, he promised Tesla will enter the India market "next year for sure."
Apart from the need to build gigafactories in its largest markets, Tesla was also drawn to India by government incentives amounting to $4.6 billion for companies setting-up advanced battery manufacturing facilities.
Tesla is currently building a Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany and another in Travis County, Texas, called the Austin Terafactory or Gigafactory 5. The $1.1 billion Austin Terafactory will eventually assemble the Tesla Cybertruck electric pickup and the Tesla Model Y compact crossover utility vehicle (CUV) starting 2021 at the earliest.
Tesla opened its first Asian Gigafactory in Shanghai, China, in late 2019. If its experience in Gigafactory Shanghai or Gigafactory 3 is anything to go by, Tesla should complete Gigafactory Bangalore in a year's time. "Giga Shanghai", which stands on a 220-acre plot, is Tesla's first overseas factory.
It currently assembles the Model 3 all-electric executive sedan and the Model Y electric CUV. "Giga Shanghai" has a production capacity of 250,000 Model 3s and Model Ys.
