Tesla, led by Elon Musk, is looking to hire senior staff in India, as indicated by job advertisements posted this week. This move signals progress in the electric vehicle maker’s plans to enter the world’s third-largest auto market.
The job postings follow Musk’s recent meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington.
Tesla did not immediately provide a comment to Reuters regarding the matter.
For years, Tesla has been planning to enter the Indian market and even establish local manufacturing. The company hired some executives around 2022, but several top-level employees left after Tesla paused its India plans at that time.
Since late last year, the automaker has resumed its search for showroom space in India. It has now listed 13 job openings on its website and social media platform LinkedIn for various customer-facing and back-end roles based in Mumbai, India’s financial hub.
One of the listings is for a “store manager” who would oversee and drive sales at a location, suggesting that Tesla is preparing to open a showroom in the city. The company is also seeking delivery operations and customer support specialists, as indicated by the job ads.
These listings appear shortly after Modi’s meeting with Musk in the United States, where they discussed topics such as space, mobility, technology, and innovation.
Musk has criticized India for its high import tariffs, which are around 100% on electric vehicles (EVs). His company has lobbied to reduce these tariffs, although local automakers have opposed Tesla’s entry, fearing it could impact their EV plans.
Last year, Musk was expected to meet Modi during a trip to India to announce a potential $2 billion to $3 billion investment. However, that visit was canceled after Tesla decided to lay off 10% of its global workforce due to declining sales. In November, Reuters reported that Tesla was also searching for showroom space in New Delhi and was in early discussions with real estate developer DLF to secure a location.
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