President MexicanAndrés Manuel López Obrador, confirmed this Tuesday that Tesla will install an electric vehicle plant in the northern city of Monterrey.
“Things are going well, we talked yesterday with Mr. Elon Musk, the director of Tesla. There is already an understanding, yes they are going to dedicate the investment to Mexico and the plant is going to be established in Monterrey, with a series of commitments to face the problem of water scarcity. They are going to help in this sense,” said the president, quoted by efe.
Thus, López Obrador put an end to his Press conference daily to months of speculation about the arrival in the country of a Musk plant and disagreements in the federal government about where to install the assembly plant, whose details and investment cannot yet be revealed.
“I do not want to expand the information further, because I think that tomorrow this announcement will be made known in detail by the company, Tesla, and also some commitments will be made known and next week other commitments,” argued the president.
The arrival of Tesla is confirmed after a political controversy because federal officials wanted Tesla to be installed near the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), López Obrador’s priority work for the Mexican capital, but Musk visited Nuevo León in October, a state governed by the opposition, aim efe.
López Obrador affirmed that he spoke last Friday and this Monday with Musk, whom he considered “very respectful, attentive and understood the importance of addressing the problem of water scarcity”, for which “there is a first commitment that is that of use of recycled water throughout the automobile manufacturing process.”
“He was very receptive, understanding our concerns and accepting our proposals, which will be announced starting tomorrow, this will mean considerable investment and many jobs,” he said.
Tesla “comes complete to Mexico”
Without further details, López Obrador announced that “the complete company is coming”, although “the manufacture of the batteries was pending”.
“I am satisfied with what was achieved because it means more investment for Mexico and more jobs, and this also leads to an increase in the wages of workers,” he stressed.
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The president warned Musk that in Mexico there are not the same subsidies as in the United States for the manufacture of electric car batteries and semiconductor chips.
“He understood it perfectly and we talked about the fact that, without these subsidies, Mexico’s comparative advantages are unique in the world and we agreed, and that made me very happy, that Mexico’s main resource is the quality of its workers,” he said, according to efe.
