Tesla India has opened its sixth experience centre in India at Express Avenue Mall in Chennai, expanding the electric vehicle maker’s retail and after-sales network in Tamil Nadu as it works to build local access to vehicles, service and charging infrastructure.
The Chennai facility follows Tesla experience centres in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It allows customers in Chennai and across Tamil Nadu to experience Tesla vehicles, place orders and take delivery locally. Customers can also order vehicles through Tesla’s direct-to-consumer model without visiting an experience centre, with the company arranging delivery to them.
The expansion comes as about 680 Tesla cars have been registered in India during the current calendar year, according to Vahan data cited in the report. Tesla has said customers placing orders in September would be targeted for delivery before Diwali, subject to completion of the required processes.
Tesla India Managing Director Sharad Agarwal said the Chennai centre was the company’s sixth in India and third in the southern region. “We are very excited that we are coming closer and closer to our customers here in Tamil Nadu and Chennai,” he said.
Alongside the retail opening, Tesla has made a Tesla-approved collision centre and service facility operational in Poonamallee. The facility provides access to genuine parts, trained technicians, software-enabled diagnostics and collision repair. Tesla’s service and body-shop network is now operational in Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chennai.
The company said its ownership model relies on software and remote diagnostics, with more than 70 per cent of potential problems capable of being resolved remotely. Tesla also offers mobile service, while workshop visits are intended for more serious cases. The model is designed to reduce dependence on conventional service-centre visits, although the expanding physical network provides support for repairs and collision work.
Tesla is currently offering two vehicles in India: the Model Y and Model Y L. The Model Y Premium Rear-Wheel Drive is priced at ₹50.89 lakh and has a claimed range of up to 500 km under WLTP testing. The three-row, six-seat Model Y L starts at ₹61.99 lakh and has a claimed range of up to 681 km.
The company is also expanding its charging network and home-charging capabilities. Tesla currently has five Supercharging stations with 20 stalls in India. Its vehicles are positioned as technology products, with over-the-air software updates and AI-enabled features. Agarwal said Tesla was moving from touch-based controls towards voice interaction, with its AI assistant capable of interacting in several Indian languages.
Tesla has described its business model as covering vehicle design, manufacturing, retail, delivery and charging infrastructure directly rather than through third parties. The Chennai centre and the Poonamallee service facility are the company’s latest additions as it builds that network in one of India’s major automobile and technology markets.
