Tesla to invest about $5 billion in Mexico

SAN FRANCISCO

American electric car maker Tesla will invest about $5 billion in a massive new factory in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, a senior government official said yesterday.

The move would be a major boost to Mexico’s hopes of benefiting from U.S. companies choosing nearby countries over Asia for their manufacturing operations.

“We brought to Mexico an investment of more or less $5 billion for the construction of the largest electric vehicle plant in the world,” Martha Delgado, undersecretary for multilateral affairs and human rights, said in a video posted on Twitter.
Earlier, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that Tesla was going to open a plant in Monterrey, northern Mexico, about 200 kilometers from the U.S. border.

The factory was expected to be “very big” and would bring “a considerable investment and many jobs,” he said.

Lopez Obrador said Tesla would give more details on, including addressing the problem of water scarcity in Monterrey, an industrial powerhouse home to transnational firms.

In discussions with Elon Musk, the Tesla chief “was very receptive, understanding our concerns,” with measures expected to include the use of recycled water, the president said.

Mexico declared a drought emergency in July last year and authorities in parts of the country, including Monterrey, were forced to ration water use due to depleted reservoirs.

Tesla, which already has plants in China and Germany as well as the U.S., faces increasing competition in the electric vehicle sector.