Tesla To Construct Subsequent-Era Automobile In Austin Earlier than Mexico!

Regardless that many Tesla bulls assume a “Mannequin 2” (aka “Mannequin C” or $25,000 Tesla) could also be pointless if Tesla will get FSD (Full Self Driving) working within the subsequent 12 months, it appears from this newest excerpt from Walter Isaacson’s e book about Elon that the realists at Tesla have satisfied Elon to permit the design and manufacturing of a next-generation compact automotive. If not for the US, no less than for markets that received’t approve full self driving.

My private opinion is that it’s going to take a number of years to unravel all of the FSD points, regardless of pleasure surrounding Elon’s current demo of V12 FSD. The subsequent-generation compact might be designed to make use of the identical platform because the robotaxi, so it might probably share the manufacturing improvements described at Tesla Investor’s Day in March of this 12 months. For extra, we wrote about it right here, right here, and right here.

Simply increase Austin, they’ve the room.

— Paul Fosse (Retread 🛞 🔥🔥🔥) (@atj721) September 7, 2023

I urged in a submit yesterday in reply to information the Mexico gigafactory was delayed, presumably for years, that Tesla ought to simply increase the Austin gigafactory for now. It seems like Elon got here to the identical conclusion.

Causes To Construct In Austin

1. Tesla already has lots of engineering expertise at Austin. And it might be troublesome for Tesla to persuade a lot of these folks to maneuver to Mexico (as said within the e book excerpt).
2. Tesla didn’t appear to have any issues getting permits in Austin, and development gave the impression to be very fast.
3. Tesla already has vital infrastructure in Austin and might probably take a look at manufacturing in an present constructing.
4. The corporate can construct a sprung construction (or “tent” because it was known as by Tesla bears) in 19 days in line with this case research.

Causes To Construct In Mexico

Whereas I’m a fan of designing and constructing the Mannequin 2 in Austin, I’ve lengthy (3 and a half years) advocated for plant in Mexico, too.

1. Mexico has extra free commerce agreements than some other nation! That is key to exporting to most of the international locations in South America and Southeast Asia. It even has an settlement with the European Union!
2. I’m positive Tesla pays higher, however present manufacturing staff are reported to make about $5 an hour.
3. Mexico has extra engineering college students than the US. Tesla would probably get the cream of the crop from that pool.

Conclusion

I feel the most effective of each worlds is to design the next-generation product in Austin, however then construct each within the US to fulfill the massive US market whereas additionally constructing a big quantity in Mexico (and different places too) to serve a bigger world market.

If you wish to benefit from my Tesla referral hyperlink to get $500 off a brand new Tesla plus 3 months free trial of Full Self Driving, right here’s the code: https://ts.la/paul92237 — but when one other proprietor helped you, please use their hyperlink as an alternative of mine, since I’ve sufficient referral credit.  If you wish to study extra about Tesla’s referral program, right here is the hyperlink with the most recent particulars. 

Disclosure: I’m a shareholder in Tesla [TSLA], BYD [BYDDY], Nio [NIO], XPeng [XPEV], Hertz [HTZ], and several other ARK ETFs. However I supply no funding recommendation of any kind right here.