Madrid, February 28 (Europe Press) –
The President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, confirmed that Tesla will build a factory in the Mexican city of Monterrey, in the north of the country, becoming the company’s first factory in Latin America.
In his morning conference call this Tuesday, the Mexican president explained that he had spoken twice in the past week with Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, and there was an “understanding” between the two for the company to invest in the country.
However, López Obrador indicated that on Wednesday and through the next week, the automaker will provide more details about the start-up of the new plant.
He stressed that “Tesla’s arrival in the country will mean a large investment and the generation of many jobs. I would like to thank Musk for being very respectful and caring.”
Commitment to water shortage
Recently, the President of Mexico suggested that Tesla consider a location other than the state of Nuevo León (with Monterrey as its capital) as this was not “suitable” due to the lack of water.
However, given the final location of the plant, the president stated that the new plant would be subject to a series of commitments to deal with this problem. One of these commitments, as previously mentioned, is the use of recycled water throughout the electric vehicle manufacturing process, at the same time that water treatment will be carried out, even for car paint.
In addition, Lopez Obrador insisted to Elon Musk that Mexico could not give the same subsidies as the US government for car production. However, the president did express that the Tesla co-founder “completely” understood the situation and both spoke of Mexico’s “comparative advantages,” which makes the country “a unique destination in the world.”
In a similar vein, the president has defended that Mexico’s main resource is the “quality of its workers,” as well as their ethics, responsibility, and professionalism, something with which Obrador emphasized that Musk “totally” agreed.
