Tesla is moving forward with its plans for a European Gigafactory and has entered talks with Dutch and German officials regarding the production plant.
The Wall Street Journal reports that initial discussions have begun with authorities in the two countries, although no agreement is guaranteed in either, according to officials. The Netherlands is home to Tesla's European headquarters, although Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted previously that the firm's next Gigafactory production facility will be on the French-German border.
Musk confirmed the plans for a European Gigafactory at a press conference in Germany in late 2016, after he announced Tesla's acquisition of Grohmann Engineering.
The next Gigafactory, however, is almost certain to be in Shanghai, pending talks with the local government. A European facility will arrive after this.
The location of the proposed European site will put it near to Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) countries. At the moment, however, Germany is "a leading choice" rather than a confirmed decision.
Read more about Tesla's Gigafactory here
In relation to a question about bringing production of Tesla models to Europe, Musk previously said: "This is something that we plan on exploring quite seriously with different locations for very large scale Tesla vehicles, and battery and powertrain production."
Tesla Grohmann Automation (the new name of Grohmann Engineering following the acquisition) is based in Prüm, Germany — not far from Musk's proposed location for the Gigafactory — and specialises in automated manufacturing technology. Following the deal, Tesla said the company should accelerate its production processes as “the factory becomes more of a product than the product itself”.
Tesla uses the Prüm centre as a hub for its factory developments, although no vehicles will be produced there. At the time of the purchase, Tesla said a total of 1000 jobs will be created in Prüm within two years, with the company planning to expand the centre in the near future. The developments in robotic car production that come from Prüm will be used in Tesla’s existing factory in Fremont, California.
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Tesla hopes that opening more factories will create greater economies of scale in its production process and this will ultimately drive vehicle prices down. Tesla's struggles to produce the Model 3 at the intended rate have been well documented and most recently culminated in the construction of a third, temporary production line in Fremont.
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Brexit may have cost the UK....
If it wasn't for Brexit I think the UK may have won this. It's an open secret that JLR and Ford were looking at a UK site for a similar factory and wanted to make a decision some time back but Brexit is delaying the investment by the look of it. The UK would then have become a world leader in this tech and that could have encouraged Tesla into the UK.
Ford's Open sccret
Why would Ford be building a similar factory? They haven't built a ground up BEV yet and are well behind in EV's.
Since they stopped making cars in the UK whilst we were in the EU what evidence is there they're were coming back?
Shares
Were you saying this 5 years ago when the share price was $129? If you were it was pretty bad advice, yes?
Exponential
I trust you are buying all
I trust you are buying all the shares you can get your hands on then?
History is littered with examples of absurd 'next big thing' valuations.
Tesla is a tiny car manufacturer with a feeble balance sheet, epic losses and a CEO who specialises in offending those who could save him.
The common theme in all 'next big thing' bubbles is a weird blind devotion to another human being.