Several Mexican states are falling over one another to attempt to court Tesla as the electrical vehicle (EV) pioneer is rumoured to announce the country as the placement of its next Gigafactory, in response to a report from The Associated Press.
While Tesla hasn’t officially confirmed plans to construct a factory in Mexico, the corporate has previously teased the announcement of its next Gigafactory and a Mexican official said earlier this month that a take care of Tesla was “very close.”
What’s more, officials have also said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is as a result of have a phone call with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador soon. A producing facility in Mexico would construct on Tesla’s existing relationship with the country’s government, which has granted the corporate an exclusive customs lane on the Mexico-U.S. border.
A previous report indicated that Tesla plans to place down an assembly plant near an airport in Mexico City, but that’s merely speculation at this point. As such, several states are fighting to win Tesla’s investment, which for all they know won’t even find yourself being an automotive plant.
Among the warring states include Veracruz, the northern industrial state of Nuevo Leon, and the western state of Michoacan.
Nuevo Leon painted the Tesla logo on a lane on the Colombia border crossing into Texas last summer, and even put up billboards that read “Welcome Tesla” within the state capital of Monterrey in December. What’s more, the state governor’s influencer wife, Mariana Rodriguez, was spotted at a get-together with Musk.
Nonetheless, President Obrador seemingly disqualified the state from contention earlier this week, stating that the typically high water usage of factories could risk shortages there.
This resulted in other states ramping up their efforts to ask Tesla, resulting in some quite humorous antics that included an ad shared by Michoacan Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla that featured a Tesla vehicle next to a car-sized avocado.
We’re going to must see exactly what Tesla plans to do in Mexico, but Bedolla noted that “wherever Tesla sets up, it’ll be big news in Mexico.”