Tesla should consider local policy and regulations depending on the type of office they want to set up in India. Policies will also vary from state to state.
Nice post. Just wanted to drop couple of points on this because I have been following Tesla very closely for 5+ years:
1. Tesla typically spends $0 on traditional marketing. So I am guessing things like Bill boards will be immediately shot down. The company's only source of marketing is word of mouth and they go out of their way to make a very good referral program. Some way to create that fan following here could be to have an India specific referral program?
2. Another area of partnerships is tieing up with businesses which are patronized by your target audience such as 5 star hotels and provide them with free chargers. Given that charging infra will be a critical factor while planning long distance travels, this could be a low risk investment for some of these businesses. It's called destination charging in the US.
3. On the entry part, typically auto manufacturers spend a lot of time recruiting dealers and figuring out the right incentive structure. Given that Tesla has a no dealer policy, it will be interesting in terms of how they approach this in India where the laws allow them to have a no dealer policy unlike many states in USA. They may face significant troubles at local RTOs though.
4. Last point, why assume Tesla will focus on selling only cars? They have a decent energy business, gives how much GOI is pushing for renewables, that maybe an area to focus on for getting the initial traction and word of mouth out because those products are way more economical plus the need for energy storage in India is far higher than USA given the inefficient local power distribution but governments resulting in more frequent power failures. Maybe this is something one has to clarify with the interviewer.
Thanks for your comments, Shyam. All great ideas and relevant points. The 5 star hotel partnership is a fantastic idea. Obviously the more you know about the specific company, the more relevant your answer tends to be :) but we'll also need to keep in mind that in the context of an interview, this may not be the case and the best a candidate can do at that time is talk through this in a well thought out manner.
Nice post. Just wanted to drop couple of points on this because I have been following Tesla very closely for 5+ years:
1. Tesla typically spends $0 on traditional marketing. So I am guessing things like Bill boards will be immediately shot down. The company's only source of marketing is word of mouth and they go out of their way to make a very good referral program. Some way to create that fan following here could be to have an India specific referral program?
2. Another area of partnerships is tieing up with businesses which are patronized by your target audience such as 5 star hotels and provide them with free chargers. Given that charging infra will be a critical factor while planning long distance travels, this could be a low risk investment for some of these businesses. It's called destination charging in the US.
3. On the entry part, typically auto manufacturers spend a lot of time recruiting dealers and figuring out the right incentive structure. Given that Tesla has a no dealer policy, it will be interesting in terms of how they approach this in India where the laws allow them to have a no dealer policy unlike many states in USA. They may face significant troubles at local RTOs though.
4. Last point, why assume Tesla will focus on selling only cars? They have a decent energy business, gives how much GOI is pushing for renewables, that maybe an area to focus on for getting the initial traction and word of mouth out because those products are way more economical plus the need for energy storage in India is far higher than USA given the inefficient local power distribution but governments resulting in more frequent power failures. Maybe this is something one has to clarify with the interviewer.
Thanks for your comments, Shyam. All great ideas and relevant points. The 5 star hotel partnership is a fantastic idea. Obviously the more you know about the specific company, the more relevant your answer tends to be :) but we'll also need to keep in mind that in the context of an interview, this may not be the case and the best a candidate can do at that time is talk through this in a well thought out manner.