President Andrés Manuel López Obrador already announced on Tuesday the arrival of Tesla in Mexico. The Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Mexican Foreign Ministry, Martha Delgado, reported that Tesla will invest 5 billion dollars in the plant.
Musk made the announcement in the town of Austin, Texas. He laid out his vision of the company’s future that he called Master Plan 3.
The controversial businessman announced the construction of the plant at the end of his presentation.
“Probably the most significant announcement of the day is that we are going to build a Gigafactory in Mexico,” Musk announced to applause from the audience, including Undersecretary Delgado and Nuevo León Governor Samuel García.
A Tesla executive revealed that the next generation of Tesla vehicles will be built at the Monterey plant, though Musk later declined to answer a question about the automaker’s future vehicles.
Industry analysts had speculated that Musk would unveil today Tesla’s new third-generation platform that will be used to produce an affordable $20,000 to $25,000 electric car as well as a robo-taxi.
Neither Musk nor Tesla offered details of when the construction of the Monterrey Gigafactory will begin, although the businessman indicated that a “big event” will be held to mark the start of the works.
The Shanghai Gigafactory was built in the record time of nine and a half months.
The plant will be essential for Tesla to achieve its goal of producing 20 million vehicles a year that Musk repeated today.
The Mexican Gigafactory will also be key to the massification of Tesla products that until now have been reserved for consumers with high purchasing power.
Musk stressed during the presentation that the biggest factor limiting demand for Tesla vehicles is their price.
“Even small changes in price have a big effect on demand,” said the businessman, who also assured that Tesla will cut its vehicle assembly costs in half.
Much of the presentation by Musk and other Tesla executives focused on electric power generation and storage.
The businessman pointed out that the improvement of battery technology is essential to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy.
-With information from EFE.
