Türkiye may lure Tesla investment in coming years: Experts

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Elon Musk, the head of electric carmaker Tesla, to establish a factory in Türkiye, which has a large and competitive auto industry, during a meeting in New York.

Musk noted that numerous Turkish supplier firms are currently collaborating with Tesla and that Türkiye is one of the leading candidates for the next factory.

People from the local auto industry say that it might not be likely that Tesla will build its next Gigafactory in Türkiye, but the U.S. carmaker may invest in the country in the coming years.

Türkiye is not the only country attempting to lure Tesla for the company’s next Gigafactory investment, estimated to cost more than 5 billion euros.

Currently, Tesla has four production plants in the U.S. and one in China and Germany each. The electric carmaker has been looking for a location for its next Gigafactory investment.

Musk, who previously said that they planned to increase the number of Gigafactories from 10 to 12, is expected to announce the site of the new plant by the end of this year. The carmaker wants to boost its annual production to more than 20 million units.

Presently, the more likely candidates are Canada, France, Spain and India. Saudi Arabia is also vying to attract the Tesla investment.

Musk, in the past months, held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and the Italian PM Giorgia Meloni.

So, what are the chances that Tesla will choose Türkiye as the next site for its Gigafactory?

People from the local automotive industry think that this is unlikely to happen for the time being.

However, they said that Türkiye will be a strong candidate for Tesla’s Gigafactory investments in the years to come.

If Tesla decides to build the next Gigafactory in Türkiye, instead of Canada, India or Europe, the most likely location would be the province of Manisa, representatives from the auto sector said.

German carmaker Volkswagen had announced a couple of years ago that it wanted to build a factory in Manisa but later the company scrapped its plan due to what was widely considered a politically motivated decision.

The land plot, which was allocated to Volkswagen, could be the site for Tesla investment if the carmaker chooses Türkiye, they said.

Türkiye already launched its own electric vehicle brand Togg, whose factory is in the Gemlik district in the northwestern industrial province of Bursa.

Tesla entered the Turkish market in April this year and was faced with strong demand from local consumers. Until September, Tesla has delivered more than 5,000 Model Y cars to Turkish consumers. The number of deliveries of the Tesla cars is expected to reach 15,000.