Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday that automaker Tesla Inc. has committed to building an electric vehicle plant in the city of Monterrey.
Although Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) officials have not publicly made an announcement about the development, Obrador said he spoke directly to Tesla owner and CEO Elon Musk on Friday and Monday about the deal.
“This will represent a considerable investment and many, many jobs,” Lopez Obrador said during his daily morning press conference on Tuesday.
Lopez Obrador’s latest announcement comes after he had previously ruled out allowing the Tesla plant to be built in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, where Monterrey is the capital.
The region already suffers from severe water shortages, and Lopez Obrador said his administration would not give out the needed permits for any factory that required heavy water usage. On Tuesday, he said Musk’s company had offered several commitments to address those concerns, including using recycled water.
“There is already an understanding, if 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 that sense,” Lopez Obrador said. “Tomorrow the announcement will be made by Tesla and some commitments will be made known and next week other commitments.”
Tesla’s investor day event and annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at the company’s headquarters and gigafactory facility in Austin, Texas.
In a tweet, the governor of Nuevo Leon, Samuel Garcia, hailed the arrival of Tesla in Monterrey. Garcia also said he will be attending Tesla’s investor day event in Austin.
Lopez Obrador did not provide additional details about Tesla’s plans in Monterrey, which is situated about 136 miles from the U.S. border port of entry in Laredo, Texas. Monterrey is one of the country’s largest cities with more than 5 million people in its metropolitan area.
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As Elon has just pissed off China with his COVID remarks on Twitter as to where it originated, I would say his auto plant in China may well be in jeopardy, so planning to build another one may be his answer.