Gary Zhou 
Tesla has added five new languages to its user interface, including Hindi, as the company prepares to emerge into the Indian market in the coming years.
As Tesla continues to expand into other regions through international expansion, the company has added Russian, Hindi, Greek, Croatian, and Finnish to the user interface. The addition of new languages will help the company as it prepares to expand into new markets.
The addition of the new languages was initially discovered by Tesla hacker @greentheonly, who said the additional languages were a part of Software Update 2021.12.25. The update affects all models across Tesla’s fleet.
The introduction of Hindi to the vehicles undoubtedly points toward Tesla’s imminent entrance into India. For years, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted toward the company eventually building and selling vehicles in India. Despite the company’s best efforts, nothing ever came of the speculation until earlier this year. Documents revealed that Tesla had applied for multiple business licenses in India that would allow the company to sell its electric vehicles in the country.
Many believed that Tesla could simply import units of its all-electric cars to India. However, hefty import taxes, which would effectively double the price of the vehicle, would apply to Tesla’s cars, taking them out of the affordability range for most people.
Tesla would eventually indirectly confirm its entrance into the market by hiring several executives that would oversee the automaker’s entrance into India.
While the addition of other languages into Tesla’s UI could indicate that the company is planning to enter other markets, like Russia, India is undoubtedly the most highly anticipated country that Tesla plans to enter within the next 12 months. Tesla has also started to test the Model 3 in India. Some sightings of the mass-market sedan have been shared, indicating the country’s Automotive Research Association of India, or ARAI, can begin testing the vehicles for safety, emissions, and other important automotive metrics.
