On July 24, according to media reports, Tesla representatives will meet with India's Minister of Commerce this month to discuss plans to build a factory.。

Back in May, there were reports that Tesla executives had visited India and held talks with officials about setting up a car and battery manufacturing base there.。At the end of the month, Tesla representatives will meet with Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to discuss what is expected to revolve around the creation of an electric vehicle supply chain and the allocation of plant land, according to people familiar with the matter.。

Last year, the company pushed hard for lower import taxes on electric vehicles shipped to India, but at the time local government officials wanted Tesla to make cars there, things ended up falling apart.。But this year, Tesla's attitude suddenly changed and began to consider building a factory in India.。

Tesla's attitude change may be "coveting" India, a market with great potential。India overtook Japan as the world's third-largest car market earlier this year, but the country's domestic electric vehicles currently account for less than 2% of total car sales.。

The meeting with India's commerce minister will be the highest-level discussion Tesla has had with the Indian government since meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June.。Earlier in talks with Modi, Tesla said it intends to make significant investments in the country.。

It is reported that Tesla said in the negotiations to build a factory in India that it will produce the new electric car for 2 million rupees (about 24,000 US dollars) locally, which will be 25% cheaper than the current lowest-priced Model 3 sedan.。In China, the Model 3 sedan sells for just over $32,200.。

Since the beginning of the year, Tesla has slashed prices on its existing models.。But Musk has said many times before that its long-term success will depend on significantly reducing the cost of electric vehicles.。

Tesla said its next-generation car platform would cut production costs by 50 percent and said it could use the platform to make a variety of models, including autonomous "robo-taxis," but the company did not elaborate on what future models would be and how they would be priced.。

A Tesla plant under construction in Mexico will build cars on the lower-cost, higher-volume platform, which the company has said it will bring to other plants as well.。

Tesla currently makes electric cars in California and Texas。Outside North America, the company has plants in Berlin and Shanghai。The Shanghai plant is Tesla's largest, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the automaker's global capacity.。The plant's plan to increase capacity is awaiting regulatory approval.。

Just as India and Tesla are "flirting with each other," the Indian government was revealed a few days ago to have rejected BYD's plan to invest $1 billion in a car factory in India.。

Specifically, there were reports that BYD had originally planned to set up a joint venture with Indian company Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL).。MEIL mainly provides funding, while the technology and expertise are provided by BYD, which can produce up to 15,000 electric vehicles locally each year。The reason for the rejection of the plan was India's security concerns about Chinese investment in the region.。

Since April 2020, India has tightened the direct investment policy of foreign enterprises in the country.。It requires that investments from countries bordering its land must be approved by the government and a committee headed by the Home Secretary decides on such proposals.。Although the policy does not mention any country, it is widely believed to be aimed at preventing companies from China from making major acquisitions of domestic entities in India.。

In addition, India's "wind review" on the business environment is not very good.。The Indian government signed an order with BYD worth up to $2 billion to buy 1,000 electric buses before India refused to build a factory.。But BYD offered to pay in full before shipping.。Rejected by the Indian government.。BYD eventually compromised and agreed to ship in four batches, each of which would be paid after delivery.。It is reported that BYD will also remove the battery power system in the bus, ready to wait for the money to get, and then send the battery to India。

Although BYD has "hit a brick wall" in India, as the world's leading electric car manufacturer, there are other countries that want to attract BYD to build factories there to promote the electrification of local cars.。

Speaking at a conference on July 25, Indonesia's Minister of Maritime Affairs and Natural Resources Coordination, Luhut Pandjaitan, said the country was finalizing a new set of incentives to attract investment from electric vehicle manufacturers.。The incentives will be benchmarked against those offered by regional rivals Thailand and Vietnam, though he did not provide further details.。Mr Luhut said: "Tomorrow we will finalise incentives for any investment in electric vehicles in Indonesia.。He added that they were awaiting approval from President Joko Widodo.。

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, has the world's largest nickel reserves, one of the metals needed for batteries in electric vehicles.。The country hopes to use this to attract electric car manufacturers to build local plants.。

Luhut said he will meet with BYD executives in Chengdu, China, on Thursday, and plans to meet with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in California on August 3.。