Ahead of India Foray, Tesla’s Country Head Quits: Report

SUMMARY

Menon is also stepping down from the role of the chairman of Tesla India's board

He was associated with the company for nine years and has been leading its India operations for the past four years

The departure comes at a time when Tesla is advertising about 20 posts of mid-level jobs in India

At a time when EV giant Tesla is firming up its plans to enter the Indian market, its India head Prashanth Menon has reportedly stepped down.

As per a report by Bloomberg, Menon is also stepping down from the role of the chairman of Tesla India’s board. Menon has been associated with the company for nine years and has been leading its India operations for the past four years.

Menon holds a director position in Tesla’s India subsidiary Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt Ltd. Besides Menon, the EV maker’s VP – tax Joseph Gruber and global senior director trade market access David Feinstein also hold the director position at Tesla.

The report cited sources as saying that Menon quit due to “personal reasons”. Meanwhile, Tesla’s China teams will oversee India operations, with no immediate successor named, the report added.

The departure comes at a time when Tesla is looking to beef up its India team. As of now, Tesla is advertising about 20 posts of mid-level jobs like sales managers, software engineer, vehicle operator, legal counsel, among others, in Mumbai and Pune.

It is pertinent to note that the company was also said to have leased office space near Mumbai’s BKC last week. It is said to have leased a 30-seater space in the co-working hub of Phoenix Market City at a monthly rent of INR 3 Lakh.

Earlier in February, the EV major was also said to have finalised two locations for its showrooms in Delhi and Mumbai.

All recent developments point towards a near future where Tesla’s cars ply on Indian roads,

However, Tesla earlier cited India’s high-import duties as a deterrent to its India entry. More recently, during its post-earnings call, Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja reiterated this.

“The current tariff structure with India is that any car, which we send in, is subject to 70% tariff and a 30% luxury tax. So, the same car which we’re selling (in the US) is 100% more expensive in India,” Taneja said.

To woo the EV giant, the central government is said to be considering cutting import tariffs significantly for EV cars. While reports suggest that the government could go ahead with the cuts as it believes that the domestic auto industry has been protected for “too long”, no official announcement in this direction has been made till date.