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AUSTIN: Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Tuesday that he spoke to Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, in recent days about a possible move from the company’s electric vehicle assembly plant to the Lone Star state.
Abbott’s comments came just three days after Musk threatened to move Tesla’s headquarters and future operations to Texas or Nevada, after officials from California County, where the only Tesla vehicle factory in the U.S. is located. USA .
Abbott said during an interview with the Wichita Falls CBS affiliate that he believes Texas is perfect for Tesla. An Abbott spokesman confirmed to Reuters that the governor spoke to Musk over the weekend.
“I had the opportunity to speak to Elon Musk and he is really interested in Texas and really frustrated with California,” said Abbott. “We just have to wait and see how things unfold.”
Abbott did not provide details of the conversation. John Wittman, the governor’s communications director, said incentives to lure Tesla out of California have not yet been discussed.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk had told employees last Thursday that limited production would restart at the Tesla factory in Fremont, after California Governor Gavin Newsom said that manufacturers in the state would be allowed to reopen under relief from containment measures for the coronavirus. But officials in Alameda County, where Fremont is located, said their own shutdown measures had not been lifted and the factory could not yet reopen.
Musk tweeted Saturday: “If we even maintain Fremont’s manufacturing activity, it will depend (sp) on how Tesla is treated in the future.”
President Donald Trump intervened Tuesday and tweeted that California should allow Tesla to return to work.
On Monday, Musk said production resumed at the factory in defiance of the county’s order and that if anyone had to be arrested, it should be him. On Tuesday, the employee parking lots that were deserted on Friday were full of cars. Trucks could be seen entering and leaving the factory grounds.
Musk is no stranger to Texas. Its spacecraft maker SpaceX has a launch site in the far south of the state near the town of Boca Chica.
Richard Cortez, the top executive in Hidalgo County, just west of the SpaceX launch site, urged Musk in a letter to consider the Tesla area, saying the strong presence of auto plants on the U.S. border and Mexico could quickly comply with electricity. car maker needs.
Cortez, in an interview with Reuters, stressed that manufacturing plants in his county have never been ordered to close due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition to its vehicle plant in California, Tesla has a battery plant in Sparks, Nevada, and a factory in Buffalo, New York, that produces solar panels and other power generation and storage products.
