Nuevo Leon Welcomes Tesla

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that Tesla will install a new Gigafactory in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. Further details of the project are expected to be announced tomorrow during Tesla’s Investor Day. 

“We talked with Elon Musk. He is going to dedicate the investment and settle in Monterrey, with a series of commitments to help with water scarcity. I do not want to expand further because tomorrow this announcement will be made public by Tesla and other commitments will be announced next week," said López Obrador. 

Before reaching an agreement with Musk, López Obrador was reluctant to allow the company to open in Nuevo Leon due to the state’s water problems. Had Musk and López Obrador failed to reach an agreement, it was rumored that Tesla would have installed its Gigafactory in Indonesia. 

The decision to open the plant in Nuevo Leon was confirmed in a phone call between López Obrador and Musk that took place yesterday. The Mexican President highlighted that the meeting with Musk was respectful and that the latter committed to use treated water for the manufacturing processes, as Nuevo Leon has suffered prolonged droughts. “There is a first commitment, which is the use of recycled water and water treatment in the entire manufacturing process of electric cars, even for car paint,” adds López Obrador. 

Other states were eager to be considered for this project such as Veracruz, Michoacan, Puebla, San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo and Jalisco. While these states offered different advantages, Nuevo Leon has the strong advantage of being close to Texas, where Tesla already has a Gigafactory and strong manufacturing capabilities. Besides the facilities in Texas, Tesla has Gigafactories in Nevada, New York, China and Germany.

“Mexico won, Nuevo Leon won, we all won,” tweeted Samuel García, Nuevo Leon’s Governor. 

López Obrador expressed his enthusiasm for the project as he acknowledged that this initiative means that Mexico will receive more investment and that more jobs will be created. Tesla’s investments previously led to the creation of many jobs. For example, Tesla’s operations in Nevada led to the creation of 17,000 construction jobs and over 11,000 direct jobs at the company, as reported by MBN.