Raphael Thys
Tesla Mexico
Mexico’s president may have jumped the gun a day early, but it’s official now — Tesla’s next Gigafactory will be built in Mexico.
At yesterday’s Investor Day, the company officially announced that it will be building its next Gigafactory in the country of Mexico. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s president, had actually already announced the plan the day before the company could even reveal it. That doesn’t seem to have stopped Tesla from moving forward at all, but that’s not surprising.
The company not only revealed that its next Gigafactory will be located in Mexico but also said that the plant will build its “next-gen” vehicle. Despite teasing it multiple times throughout yesterday’s presentation, Tesla has not actually provided any details on exactly what this vehicle will be. During a Q&A after the presentation, CEO Elon Musk addressed questions about the vehicle, saying that “we will have a proper product event, but we’ll be jumping the gun if we’re to answer your questions.”
Our next Gigafactory will be in Mexico, manufacturing our next-gen vehicle pic.twitter.com/bk0IKrGtaZ
According to a slide during the presentation, Tesla showed two vehicles draped in fabric. While they didn’t say exactly what those vehicles are, they did say they expected to build around 300 million of one and a whopping 700 million of the other, indicating that the company is looking to build an even more affordable model.
Musk was asked if such a vehicle could cannibalize sales of other Tesla Models. In response, Musk said that “demand for our existing vehicles in terms of the desire to own them might as well be infinite. It’s indistinguishable from infinite at this point. Affordability is what matters, as you get the car more affordable, demand will go crazy.”
The official announcement of Gigafactory Mexico is part of Master Plan 3, which Elon Musk and crew unveiled at Tesla’s Investory Day yesterday. As part of that plan, the company is also opening up its Supercharger network to non-Tesla EVs in the United States.