Tesla Reportedly Abandons Spanish Gigafactory Negotiations Over Leak

The American EV maker was apparently “very angry” because the info got leaked to the press.

By: Iulian Dnistran

Jun 28, 2023 at 1:45pm ET

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Tesla has reportedly ended negotiations with the regional government in Valencia, Spain after the company got increasingly frustrated over the leaked information that indicated it would invest a massive $4.5 billion in a new Gigafactory there.

The information comes from the Spanish news website Economia Digital, which writes that Tesla was “very angry” that the negotiations were leaked and that talks between the two parties are now off-limits.

Ximo Puig, the head of the regional government in Valencia, reportedly said that he wasn’t responsible for the leak, but that it had generated a serious problem:

"This has been recently explained by Ximo Puig, according to the sources consulted by this newspaper,” wrote Economia Digital. “Ximo Puig said that the Tesla issue came to light through an internal leak that made Tesla very angry,” explained those who have spoken with him. The “internal leak”, which Ximo Puig has only clarified that it was not him, has generated “a serious problem” with the firm of Elon Musk who, since he learned that the confidential negotiations with the Generalitat had been disclosed, considered the negotiations broken.”

Earlier this month we wrote about a report that said Tesla was planning to build a new Gigafactory in the region of Valencia, which would have required an investment of $4.5 billion, all while creating more than 1,000 new jobs.

The American EV brand currently has five so-called Gigafactories across the globe where it makes all-electric cars, Supercharger stalls, and photovoltaic panels, among other things. The sixth location, which will be built in Mexico, was announced in March, and Elon Musk later said that the company will reveal the location of the seventh facility by the end of the year.

With the Spanish negotiations reportedly going well, it was a no-brainer that the next Gigafactory would have been built there. But now it seems that things have changed, so we’ll just have to wait and see where Tesla decides to build its next factory.

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The company’s CEO has met with France’s President Emmanuel Macron, as well as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, so any one of these countries could be the home of Tesla’s next Gigafactory.

As always, we’d like to know what you think about this, so head over to the comments section below to give us your thoughts.