US car-maker Tesla is planning to begin work in three months on the world’s largest EV factory in northern Mexico, Reuters reports.
Jesus Nava, the mayor of the Nuevo Leon city of Santa Catarina, said in an interview that Tesla was purchasing the site from private owners. He said the land, in an industrial zone, covers nearly 17 sq km, more than double the size of Tesla’s factory site in Austin, Texas.
Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, announced the project last week. The company has not said which of the company’s car types would be made in the plant.
Speaking at a company investors’ day, Musk said: “We’re super excited about it. We’ll continue to expand production at all of our existing factories. So this is not moving output to anywhere, from anywhere. This is supplemental production.”
Nava said the initial investment would be about $5bn and would involve some 5,000 workers, but this will rise over time to $10bn and 10,000 workers. He added: “This will bring a great economic spillover.”
The location in the Santa Catarina municipality near Monterrey, one of Mexico’s biggest cities, will put production just a few hours south of the US-Mexico border.
A senior Mexican official told Reuters that the factory would produce about 1 million vehicles a year, about a half of Tesla’s present capacity.
The company currently has capacity to build about 2 million cars a year at factories in California, Shanghai, Texas, and Berlin.
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