Tesla Gigafactory Mexico is about to receive all of its final permits and move to the construction phase, according to the governor of Nuevo León, Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda.
After months of rumors, Tesla finally announced Gigafactory Mexico during its Investor Day in March.
The automaker secured a piece of land just outside of Monterrey, Nuevo León, to build the plant.
Tesla has talked about building the factory in record time with even hope to beat Gigafactory Shanghai’s timeline of nine months between breaking ground and production.
Top comment by amigajoe
It will be curious to see where the pricing ends up. Since Tesla hasn't 'officially' announced anything, it gives them complete room to price it at $32,500 and say, 'Oh, $25k was AFTER the $7,500'.
But I won't be completely shocked if it is $25k before $7,500. They have several ways to get there, while still keeping their high profit margins:
-- Drive costs down through innovation, scale, etc.
-- Charge extra for what are now standard features. Autopilot, 360 DashCam, Sentry Mode - they could strip all those out of the included features for the base-model price, and either make them for-pay add-ons, or monthly subscriptions
-- Lower range. They could include all the 'standard' Tesla features, but give it enough batteries for say, 200 mile range. (Or put batteries in for 250 miles, with the extra 50 miles being something users can unlock later). There are a lot of people that want Tesla functionality, but don't need long range, and / or can't afford net 25k, but can afford net $17.5k
It will likely be the best selling vehicle in world regardless of which path they take.
However, it has been four months since the announcement and Tesla has yet to break ground. It is reportedly still waiting for permits.
Now it looks like things are moving forward as the governor of Nuevo León, Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda, who has been involved in the project, says he expects that Tesla will be given the green light at “any moment” to start building:
“We do not yet have a date for when, but the good news is that all the permits, for the environment, energy, water, everything is already checked, it is advancing. So at any moment we are going to give them the news that the first stone is being laid.”
The governor also commented on what he believes Tesla plans to build at the new factory:
“What we have of information is that right now they are already in the final stage of the design of the new car, a new model, which is going to be, as far as we know, the best electric and economic car in the world, and it is going to be a milestone.
So, now yes, with the design finished, what we know is that they are already finishing the production lines, the software, and everything that must be ready to start the plant.”
Tesla said that it plans to build its next-generation vehicles at the new factory: a cheaper electric hatchback and its robotaxi vehicle.
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