Tesla Inc has appointed a country head in India, marking a shift in its approach to the market after a muted start to sales in the world’s most-populous nation.

The electric-car maker has hired Sharad Agarwal, who previously led Lamborghini India, to head local operations, according to people familiar with the matter. Agarwal starts this week, the people added, and will be tasked with reviving Tesla’s push in a market that has so far failed to deliver on the hype.

He will also be an on-the-ground leader for Tesla as opposed to the previous structure in which a small team of local staffers were managed remotely by an executive team in China and other regional hubs.

Isabel Fan, Tesla’s director for Southeast Asia, had overseen the launch of Tesla’s two Indian stores launch in Mumbai and N

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