Elon Musk says Tesla will be selling a half million cars a year by 2018 and a million or more by 2020. As modern and efficient as the factory in Fremont, California is, there can be little doubt that Tesla is going to need more factories to produce that many cars. But where will they be located?
Last summer Elon Musk paid a visit to the Tesla assembly plant in the Netherlands. While he was there, he took the time to visit several European countries. He hinted that he was scouting for possible factory locations on the continent.
That inspired a group from the Alsace region of France to mount a campaign touting the desirability of their region as a manufacturing hub. Now another group from Paterna, Spain has combined their talents to create a Spain Loves Tesla campaign aimed at luring the company to build a European factory there. The group points out that they are just a few miles from Valencia, where Ford built a factory 40 years ago.
In an open letter to Elon Musk, the group notes that Ford’s “Almussafes factory is one of its flagship manufacturing plants” and is “one of the largest, most profitable, and flexible worldwide.” Valencia has one of the largest commercial seaports on the Mediterranean and is served by railway lines connecting it to all of Europe.
The group boasts that the region is a leader in renewable energy and has a large pool of skilled workers available. It even says that its climate is similar to that of Silicon Valley, so Tesla and its employees would feel right at home there.
Local governments often solicit investment from business, but only Tesla inspires people to woo their targets with YouTube videos. Will Elon be convinced by this brash self promotion? We don’t know, but the attributes claimed for the area would seem to be a natural fit for any company looking to establish a new manufacturing base in Europe.
Source: Inside EVs
