Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he will consider buying GM factory in Ohio as it shuts down next year

At the suggestion of Ohio Governor John Kasich, Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that he will consider buying a GM factory in Ohio as it’s shut down next year.

Last month, GM announced that they are closing 3 assembly factories in North America.

In an article, we suggested Tesla should buy one of those GM factories after they shut down since it went so well the last time they did it.

In an interview a few weeks later, Musk said that they would consider it again:

“It’s possible that we would be interested if [GM] are going to sell a plant or not use it that we would take it over.”

One of the 3 assembly plants that GM is shutting down is in Ohio and Governor Kasich is pushing for Tesla to buy it.

Now Musk says that they will “consider” it next year when the plant will actually run out of vehicle allocation:

Thanks, will consider next year

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2018

Back in 2010, Tesla bought NUMMI, a car factory jointly owned by General Motors and Toyota in Fremont California, for just $42 million shortly after it was shut down.

The company gradually built the workforce back, including many former NUMMI workers, and now 8 years later, Tesla Fremont employs more employees than the original factory and it produces electric vehicles at a current rate of over 300,000 units per year.

The move to acquire the existing plant instead of building something from scratch is believed to be an important part of Tesla’s early success.

GM shutting down more factories could give Tesla other opportunities to take over infrastructure and qualified workforces left behind by the automaker.

The Lordstown assembly factory is where GM is making the Cruze, but the automaker is moving away from sedans to focus on trucks, SUVs, and electric vehicles.

When announcing that they were closing the factories, GM said it was part of a restructuring that would involve doubling their investment in electric vehicles.

As for Tesla, the company has previously announced its intention to build new factories in Europe, China, and North America.