Tesla will start selling electric vehicles (EV) in India early next year, Nitin Gadkari, the country’s transport minister confirmed during an interview with The Indian Express newspaper.
The minister disclosed that Tesla (TSLA) will begin its operations with sales in the Indian market and then maybe look for assembly and manufacturing facilities.
Last week, ETAuto.com reported that the first model to be launched in India could be the Model 3 Sedan, the cheapest among Tesla vehicles. The bookings may start in January, according to ETAuto.com. (See TSLA stock analysis on TipRanks)
Replying to a tweet, Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, said on Sunday that the company plans to enter the Indian market in 2021 but it is not happening in January.
On Dec. 21, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives raised the stock’s price target to $715 (7.7% upside potential) from $560 and reiterated a Hold rating.
In a note to investors, Ives wrote “Heading into year-end and 2021, we are seeing a major inflection of EV demand globally with our expectations that EV vehicles ramp from ~3% of total auto sales today to 10% by 2025. We believe this demand dynamic will disproportionately benefit the clear EV category leader Tesla over the next few years especially in the key China region which we believe could represent ~40% of its EV deliveries by 2022 given the current brisk pace of sales.”
Meanwhile, the consensus among analysts is a Hold based on 11 Holds, 7 Buys and 7 Sells. With shares skyrocketing 693.3% year-to-date, the average price target of $455.22 implies downside potential of about 31.4% to current levels.
