Elon Musk hints that Tesla will have a 'partial presence' in India by 2019

Elon Musk back in May expressed in a Tweet that he would love to roll out Tesla cars in India but the tough government regulations have forced him to apply the brakes on his plans till date. The Tesla CEO has now revealed the company's plans of expanding its overall market beyond North America, Europe and China and India does happen to be one of the places he wants to bring Tesla to.[caption id="attachment_5203861" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Elon Musk pauses at a press conference. Reuters[/caption]Musk revealed on Twitter that he recently asked his service team to expand to all population regions and not just major metros in North America, Eastern Europe, China, and Japan by the end of next year. He followed the tweet up with another one where he suggests that Tesla will have "partial presence in India" among the likes of parts in Africa and South America.Musk did not go into details on what he really meant by "partial presence" but did mention that it would be followed up with broader expansion in 2020.

Following his visit to China in July earlier this year Musk showed keenness in visiting India early 2019.In 2017, Musk had said Tesla's cars could come to India in the summer but there was no further news. Musk later blamed the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms for the delay in Tesla's entry into the Indian market."Maybe I'm misinformed, but I was told that 30 percent of parts must be locally sourced and the supply does not yet exist in India to support that," he had tweeted.We're not quite sure what Musk has in mind but given the promises he's made this year, we should see something materialise come 2019.