Electric vehicle pioneer Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is gearing up to invest as much as $2 billion to build a plant in India if the country’s government slashes import duties on vehicles, according to Reuters.
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The company is seeking a reduction in import duty to 15% during the first two years of operations. The Indian government has been looking to drive local manufacturing. Indeed, earlier reports indicated it was moving to lower import taxes for vehicles with a price tag of over $40,000 in exchange for domestic production commitments. For reference, the current import tax rate is 100% for vehicles.
Reportedly, Tesla is eyeing investment of up to $500 million if the duties are lowered for 12,000 vehicles. If this number rises to 30,000 vehicles, the company is willing to pour in up to $2 billion.
Separately, Tesla is seeing major disruptions after a labor dispute in seven repair shops in Sweden spread to impact the company’s operations in the country. CEO Elon Musk has categorized the strikes as “Insane,” according to Bloomberg. Tesla is facing a blockade from nine unions in Sweden as the strikes in the repair shops near their fifth week.
While Tesla is simultaneously ramping up new products, setting up facilities on three continents, and growing its supercharger network, challenges remain plentiful for the company and Elon Musk.
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, has been struggling to stem the exodus of advertisers from the platform after some of Musk’s recent comments. Tesla has faced a major setback in a lawsuit involving its autopilot system, and despite 2 million preorders, is expected to deliver only 10 Cybertrucks this month.
Is Tesla Stock Expected to Go Up?
Overall, the Street has a Hold consensus rating on Tesla and the average TSLA price target of $247.29 implies a modest 5.6% potential upside. That’s after a nearly 38% rise in Tesla shares over the past year.
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