Elon Musk noted during Tesla’s Q3 2023 earnings call that the company would seek to get a sense of the global economy before it goes full tilt on Gigafactory Mexico. Giga Mexico was announced earlier this year on Investor Day, but the facility is yet to formally begin its construction.
Musk’s comments resulted in some concerns, especially considering that Giga Mexico, when it was initially announced, was expected to follow a construction period that’s about as quick as Giga Shanghai, which took just about a year to start vehicle production. At its current pace, Giga Mexico seems to be progressing at a pace that’s closer to Gigafactory Berlin, which faced several delays during its buildout.
This does not mean to say that Giga Mexico has stagnated, however. As noted in a recent report from Milenio, Secretary of Economy of the Government of the State of Nuevo León Iván Rivas Rodríguez stated that Tesla has secured all the federal and state permits needed for Gigafactory Mexico.
“Tesla is coming, Tesla is working, Tesla in some way has already started construction, just like the Government of Nuevo León. We are doing it at the same time. They already have all their federal and state permits. They already gave us all their needs to start construction, so we can assure that Tesla is coming to Nuevo León,” the official stated.
The official highlighted that Nuevo Leon is seeing a lot of foreign investment, which translates to more jobs in the region. He also noted that Nuevo Leon is looking to attract companies that are related to the “sectors of the future,” such as electromobility.
“We are trying to look for industry 4.0 technologies, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, electromobility. Here there is electricity; here there is water; here there is gas; here there is all the supplies. Many companies are going to arrive. There are going to be many jobs, and we are ready to receive all these investments,” he said.
Gigafactory Mexico is expected to be a critical facility for the electric vehicle maker’s operations. The facility will be producing the company’s next-generation platform, which involves the long-rumored $25,000 Tesla and the dedicated Robotaxi, which Elon Musk appears to be excited about. Both vehicles are expected to be more cost-effective to produce than the Model 3 and Model Y, Tesla’s current mass-market cars.
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