Tesla eyes Andhra pradesh for India plant

Tesla’s wheels are turning toward India, and Andhra Pradesh is gunning to be its landing spot. On 16 March 2025, whispers grew loud—chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s got his sights on the electric car giant, with showrooms prepped for Delhi and Mumbai and a factory hunt heating up. Picture minister Nara Lokesh, fresh off a US trip, pitching AP’s perks to Tesla brass in their sleek office—ports, highways, skilled hands. “It’s a no-brainer,” he might’ve grinned, banking on the state’s pull that snagged Kia’s Anantapur plant years back.

The state’s not sitting still. AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation chairman Ramarao trekked to Menakuru Industrial Zone in Tirupati days ago, eyeballing vacant plots—could this be Tesla’s turf? Sri City and Krishnapatnam are in the mix too, their closeness to Chennai’s port (120 km) and Tirupati’s runways dangling a logistics carrot. Naidu’s playbook echoes his ’90s IT boom—sell the vision, seal the deal. Tesla’s reps nodded warmly to Lokesh’s pitch, though no one’s spilling details yet.

It’s a high-stakes chase—Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra are elbowing in—but AP’s betting big. Naidu’s brand, a 975 km coastline, and a workforce itching to build EVs could tip the scales. X buzzes with chatter—some see Krishnapatnam’s cargo lanes as a clincher, others wonder if Tesla’s import focus might stall local digs. A Vijayawada mechanic might muse over chai: will those sleek Teslas roll off Andhra’s soil soon? The gears are grinding; the race is on.