After months of negotiation, last Wednesday, March 1st, the investment of a Tesla Gigafactory in Mexico has just been confirmed. The investment and opening of this factory have been a stir for Mexicans, as it implies an investment of between 5 and 10 billion dollars, which would exceed the amounts announced for the construction of other assembly sites in the last decade.
It all began in 2021, when Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, called Chancellor Marcelo Ebrad to ask him to reactivate the 127 Mexican factories that had a supplier relationship with his company and that, at that time, were on hold due to COVID.
Months later, Musk revealed that he had plans for new factories, so Ebrad proposed that he open one in Mexico. He was given a proposal of 5 states: State of Mexico, Queretaro, Puebla, Hidalgo, and Nuevo Leon; showing him more than 50 viable plots of land for the construction of the factory.
At the end of October last year, Elon Musk visited Nuevo Leon and was seen meeting with the governor of the state, Samuel García and his wife. The governor and the first lady shared on their social networks that, before Musk’s visit to Nuevo Leon, he was taken on a helicopter tour where he was shown some land and a bit about the state, during the trip the businessman was very impressed and said: “buy it, buy it”.
At the beginning of March, the investment was confirmed, and AMLO and Samuel Garcia confirmed Musk’s commitment to support the issue of water scarcity. To produce its electric vehicles and the painting of them, Tesla committed to use reusable water, in addition to promising to implement and support plans to avoid another drought in the state.
For its part, the Mexican territory committed with the company to streamline the company’s foreign trade with its network of suppliers and its production ecosystem established in Texas, enabling a “Tesla Lane”, exclusively for the company, which is located on the Colombia Bridge, which connects Nuevo Leon and Texas.
Tesla’s arrival in Mexico will mean approximately 7,000 new direct jobs. Citizens are already waiting for the publication of vacancies to apply. For its part, the company has already announced the names of the positions, the functions to be performed in each one and the experience required for each position.
Sources reveal that the plant will begin construction in Santa Catarina during this month of March, and it is planned to have a record construction time, expecting to start production of electric vehicles by the end of 2023 or early 2024.
With Tesla, Nuevo Leon won, Mexico won.
