Indian netizens, who have always been "untreated" with China, were recently slapped in the face by Tesla boss Elon Musk. The reason is that Musk temporarily canceled his trip to India, breaking India's dream of developing the electric vehicle industry, and the public opinion field immediately exploded and was scolded.
The general perception among Indian netizens is that Musk missed an important investment opportunity in India, the "factory of the world" and "manufacturing hub". They believe that India does not need Tesla, and is fully capable of developing and mass-producing electric vehicles independently. After all, as a global superpower, India has already landed on the south pole of the moon, and it is strange that it cannot build an electric car.
To be honest, this arrogant statement is ridiculous. Indians are really arrogant enough, have they drifted away, and have developed the illusion of being too self-conscious about their own development capabilities and business environment?
In fact, India's business environment is very bad, and foreign companies have repeatedly touched calcium in this land. Car companies, including GM and Mitsubishi, have previously planted a big heel in the Indian market. India has long been a "cemetery for foreign capital" with a bad reputation.
There are many obstacles for foreign companies in India, mainly due to the conservative mentality of the authorities. India seems to believe that foreign investment is a sin, and their arrival will only squeeze the living space of local enterprises, trigger a wave of unemployment, and cause the country's foreign exchange to drain.
As a result, Modi raised the tariff rate on imported cars to a record high of 70%, which caused a large number of foreign car companies to leave, leaving a mess in the local car market. Although Tesla only got involved in the field of electric vehicles, it was also spared and avoided huge investment losses.
Tesla's postponement of the visit to India may also be due to its own current business situation. Under the strong impact of Chinese car companies, Tesla's market value has evaporated by more than $400 billion since July last year, and its performance has been declining, and it has been forced to start a global layoff plan.
In this case, Musk naturally has no time to take care of India, a market that seems to contain huge business opportunities but is full of risks. After all, once it really settles in India, God knows what kind of "peeling skin" will it encounter?
It is worth mentioning that the Indian public opinion field almost celebrated Musk's visit before, and has been shouting hard, and even dreamed of being able to grant Musk Indian citizenship on behalf of Modi. However, Musk's reaction was to turn on the red light directly, and if he couldn't come, he wouldn't come, and he didn't even bother to issue a legitimate explanation.
Such a "slap in the face" is a severe slap in the face to those Indians who have made self-judgments and believe that India is the "factory of the world". The Indian media even scolded the Chinese media for being "sour grapes", completely in the clouds and with no one in their eyes.
At the end of the day, India's dream of pursuing the development of the electric vehicle industry is grandiose, but its style and methods are difficult to agree with. It is obviously contrary to common sense to cultivate hardware industries such as motors, batteries, and electronic controls in a short period of time through direct "reverse incubation", and it is difficult to gain the favor of the capital market.
The analysis points out that the hardware manufacturing industry is the basis for promoting the development of electric vehicles, and only with the initial manufacturing capacity can the technology be upgraded step by step on this basis. But Modi wants to eat this "fat meat" in one go, completely ignoring the reality that India is poor and white in related industries, does this also expose a childish and ridiculous mentality?
Indians' perception of the world is seriously flawed, and this is due to a long history of populist and religious education, which has led people to become complacent and unmotivated. According to their point of view, India, as the world's most populous country, naturally enjoys rights and interests equal to the population base, and the outside world cannot judge and deny India's development achievements according to "Western standards with ulterior motives", otherwise it will be contempt for the "sacred" Indian civilization.
It can be seen that getting out of the ivory tower, getting rid of dogma and narrow-mindedness, is the reform that India urgently needs to do. What is more urgent is to thoroughly improve the investment environment, remove all kinds of obstacles to the entry of foreign capital, embrace internationalization with sincerity, and absorb the world's advanced technology. Otherwise, what a grand electric car dream?
Musk's "temporary delay" this time has given Indians a slap in the face, warning them not to feel too good about their own development capabilities and business environment. If India really wants to make a difference in the field of electric vehicles, opening the door and embracing foreign investment and advanced technology is the only way forward, otherwise it will always be just wishful thinking.