This week, Tesla opened the doors to its first showroom in India, and among the first visitors was Vishal Gondal, a longtime Tesla and Elon Musk supporter who pre-booked a Model 3 in April 2016, just hours after sales began. But despite showing up on the very first day, Gondal says he has no plans to buy a Tesla now.
“I felt a bit overwhelmed,” said Gondal, founder and CEO of fitness tech startup GOQii, after visiting Tesla’s first showroom in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla complex.
For the better part of a decade, Gondal had been hoping for a Tesla debut in India. But his enthusiasm was dashed when, in 2023, he had to chase the company to get a refund – sending multiple emails just to get his $1000 booking fee.
“Trying to get the money back was a challenge,” he told TechCrunch. “The joke was that if we had invested that money in Tesla stock during the IPO, we would have made more money.”
Gondal is one of the early adopters of Tesla in India, someone who pre-booked a car long before any guarantees were available. But nine years later, it seems that many of those early adopters are not celebrating the launch, but instead have chosen not to go with Tesla, at least during its debut.
These supporters never received their Model 3s, for which they paid a reservation fee shortly after Musk promised to launch the car in the country. And some, like Gondal, even waited for years and persisted in trying to get a refund, while others received it in May, just a couple of months before Tesla’s official debut.
“It’s disappointing that Tesla is waiting so long. I mean, our government, processes, and red carpet are complicated, but it’s ridiculous that even Starlink got approval in a shorter period,” said Varun Krishnan, who runs the Chennai-based tech blog FoneArena and is also one of the first Tesla supporters in India.
Tesla did not invite these supporters to visit its showroom in Mumbai and did not inform them of the launch.
Tesla’s 6,000-square-foot showroom is located in the Maker Maxity Mall, next to the first Apple store in the country. However, Gondal said the Tesla store is not even close to the Apple store that opened in the same location.
“When Apple opened its showroom in the same location, the hype that Apple was able to create compared to the hype that Tesla was able to create is a huge difference,” he said.
Gondal drove to the Tesla showroom in his Audi e-Tron, which he bought last year after a long wait for a Model 3.
“It was the coldest launch ever,” said Amit Bhavani, founder of the tech blog Phoneradar, who also pre-ordered a Model 3 in 2016.
Bhavani eventually received a $1,000 refund after he criticized Tesla in a video posted on YouTube in 2020.
According to him, the video received comments from dozens of people who had also reserved a Model 3 in India and were waiting for a refund.
“That’s when I felt that all the love for Tesla turned into real hatred for Tesla,” he told TechCrunch.
“The least Tesla could have done was to send an email to all the people who had reserved a car earlier and say, ‘Guys, we’re going to have a special event for you,'” Gondal said. “These people really went along with it, and even if, say, it’s not a big amount, it would be a testament to the fact that we support Tesla.”
Some others, like Kawaljit Singh Bedi, said they don’t regret supporting Tesla, even though they received a refund just before this year’s launch. However, they also have no plans to buy a Tesla in the near future.
“After so many years of waiting, I’m not in a hurry to buy it now and become the first, because what’s the point? I waited nine years? I can wait another nine years and six months,” said Bedi, co-founder and CTO of Frammer AI.
“Most of those who gave an early vote of confidence are disappointed, including, I know, Vishal and Vijay [Paytm’s Shekhar Sharma],” Krishnan said. “People like Vishal and Vijay have a lot of credibility. So if they buy something, 100 people will take their word for it.”
Sharma, the founder and CEO of Indian fintech giant Paytm, echoed the comments of other early investors, telling TechCrunch that he would not go with Tesla and would rather wait for a larger car portfolio.
“Maybe it’s a little bit too late,” he said. “There are so many other options with price-value math that are better suited to India.”
The years-long delay in Tesla’s launch, as well as the lack of an invitation to the showroom opening, left some of the brand’s early Indian adopters feeling disappointed, says Arun Bhatt, founder of Tesla Club India, who also pre-booked a Model 3 in 2016
“You’ve paid something and waited for 10 years and then, out of the blue, they just tell you: “We’re going to cancel it and give you a refund,” then what happens – after waiting 10 years for something, we get privileged treatment?” he wonders. “There is no communication on this issue. So, eight out of 10 reservation holders are disappointed.”
