- Looking forward to visiting later this year, chief says.
- Electric-vehicle maker to may Full Self-Driving available to customers in China very soon.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has postponed his planned two-day trip to India, just two days after the onset of the election process, citing very heavy obligations at the electric-vehicle maker.
“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 posted on his X social media platform.
Tesla is expected to report its first-quarter results on April 23rd after market close.
Musk was to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and announce plans for Tesla and Starlink to enter the India market.
Musk’s visit had high expectations for an investment between $2 billion to $3 billion to establish a factory in India.
Tesla could have used the India announcement to try to reassure investors after months of share-price declines and the news on April 15 that it would lay off more than 10 per cent of its global workforce.
On April 10, Musk had posted on social networking platform X that he was looking forward to meeting PM Modi.
Just a few weeks before the planned visit, the Indian government had notified a new electric vehicle manufacturing policy allowing the government to give duty concessions to electric car companies committing to “Make in India”.
In June last year, Musk had met Modi during the prime minister’s US visit. The Tesla CEO had then said he planned to visit India in 2024, while expressing confidence that the company will enter the Indian market soon.
Full Self-Driving in China soon
Meanwhile, Musk said that they may make Full Self-Driving (FSD) available to customers in China very soon.
“It may be possible very soon” while replying to an X post by a user asking when the EV maker would launch FSD in China.
Tesla has slashed the price of its FSD driver assistant software to $8,000 from $12,000 in the US, according to the Tesla website, and customers can subscribe to use it for $99 a month.
The Musk-led EV maker rolled out FSD four years ago but has yet to make it available in China despite customers urging it to do so.
Other Chinese automakers have been seeking to gain an advantage over Tesla by rolling out similar software.
In March, Chinese automaker Xpeng said it is upgrading its advanced driver assistance software and plans to make all of its functions available to drivers across China by 2024.
Xpeng’s XNGP Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) is similar to Tesla’s FSD technology.