After months of rumors and speculations, Tesla announces the construction of the new Gigafactory in Mexico at the Investor Day. However, Tesla did not mention many details about the construction of the new Gigafactory. Elon Musk basically only said that the factory will be built near Monterrey, Nuevo León, and that electric cars based on the automaker's new vehicle platform will be produced there.
When Tesla builds a factory anywhere, the buzz is big, even among the residents of the towns around it. Now Samuel García, the governor of Nuevo León, has begun releasing more details about the project. The governor confirmed that Tesla has secured a sizable piece of land covering 4,200 hectares. This is about twice the size of the land Tesla has secured for the construction of Gigafactory Texas and all adjacent projects, such as the cathode material factory.
He also confirmed that Tesla plans to spend about $5 billion to build the factory, which is in line with planned capital spending on other Gigafactories. This is in line with planned investments in other gigafactories. It is important to note that these investments generally span multiple years and multiple phases of construction, with additional phases to follow after the start of production to support the investments. Finally, García said Tesla plans to employ 7,000 people directly at Gigafactory Mexico. That's equal to or less than other Tesla gigafactories. Indirectly, tens of thousands more jobs could be created if suppliers move to the region or ramp up production, as Tesla already has several suppliers in Nuevo León.
Tom Zhu, Tesla's head of automotive and in charge of the Gigafactory, added that his team plans to build the factory at a record pace, similar to the Shanghai Gigafactory, which took about nine months from groundbreaking to production. García confirmed that Tesla has told him it plans to start producing cars there next year.
