The recently announced Tesla Giga Mexico factory is expected to be one of the largest projects in automotive history.
So far, Tesla revealed only an image of the planned site, confirming its intention to produce in Mexico its next-generation all-electric cars.
A bit more details were revealed by Mexico's government, which said that the land spans nearly 4,200 acres in an industrial zone in the Santa Catarina municipality near Monterrey (Nuevo Leon). That's 68 percent more than in the case of the Tesla Giga Texas (2,500 acres).
According to Reuters, Jesus Nava - the mayor of Santa Catarina - said that the new electric vehicle envisioned for the site will be revealed by Tesla when it breaks ground in about three months from now.
An interesting thing is the scale of the investment estimated at $10 billion and 10,000 employees ($5 billion and 5,000 employees initially). We don't know the details, but it might include both vehicle production, as well as other elements, like drive units and battery cells.
The report says that a senior Mexican official mentioned annual output of one million vehicles per year, but we doubt that's the case because it's within reach of the existing Tesla Giga Shanghai plant in China. If Giga Mexico will really be as big as they suggest, one million units per year might be just the initial target with another million units per year to be added later.
Anyway, the new factory will be huge - it must be if Tesla intends to gradually increase its output to 20 million units per year in the long term.
Tesla Giga Mexico in brief:
- announced on March 1, 2023
- location: in the Santa Catarina municipality near Monterrey (Nuevo Leon)
- construction to start within about three months (Summer 2023)
- purpose: next-generation EVs
- info from Mexico's government:
nearly 4,200 acres
initially: $5 billion investment and 5,000 people
ultimately: $10 billion investment and 10,000 people
production output of 1 million vehicles annually
Source: Reuters