Tesla is finalizing plans to build an electric vehicle assembly plant in an industrial zone in Nuevo León and could make the official announcement next week.
The plant will be located in Santa Catarinain the city of Monterrey, the state capital, according to people familiar with the automaker’s plans, who asked not to be identified because it deals with internal affairs.
The final details are still being resolved and the conversations with the company have involved both the Government of Samuel García and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairssaid one of the people.
Tesla did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Musk’s ‘flirting’ with Nuevo León
Executive Director, Elon Muskvisited Nuevo León in October and met with officials there, and the company’s relationship with the state government has already earned it an exclusive customs route for pieces that cross the border into Texas.
The factory will be Tesla’s first south of the border and part of a push to expand global manufacturing that has included huge new plants in Austin, Texas and Berlin, as well as a sprawling factory in Shanghai.
Tesla has long considered building a third factory in North America, and Musk told shareholders in August that a decision could be made before the end of the year.
The announcement will come a few days after Mexico and Canada won a trade dispute against the United States about making cars shipped across regional borders, a development that gives makers more incentive to produce in those nations.
An electric vehicle made in Mexico is likely to qualify for subsidies under recent US legislation enacted in August designed to spur EV adoption, as long as it meets the battery content requirements.
Musk’s ‘ambitious’ goal
It is not clear what models will Tesla produce at your Mexican factory or when production will begin. Those details could be announced in the coming days, the people said.
The Tesla plant will be located in an automotive corridor in Nuevo León that already houses factories of General Motors and Kia Motors, and a unit of Hyundai Kia of South Korea. Ford Motor also builds its electric Mustang Mach-E in Cuautitlán, near Mexico City.
Musk has set himself the ambitious goal of selling 20 million electric vehicles per year by 2030, which would make Tesla twice the size of any other automaker and account for 20 percent of global auto production.