Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel Garcia has asked Tesla Inc. to announce the start of construction soon of its planned factory in the Mexican state, national newspaper El Financiero reported.
“I asked Tesla to come by in March at the latest to make an announcement around laying the first stone and they didn’t tell me no,” Garcia said Saturday during the inauguration of a recreational project in the area of the La Huasteca ecological park in Santa Catarina, where Tesla plans to build its factory.
“I hope that very soon, in less than a month, the company will come,” he said.
Construction of the Nuevo Leon factory, which had been slated to make Tesla’s cheaper next-generation vehicles, has been delayed due to Elon Musk’s misgivings about the global economy. Other problems, including permitting delays and a dearth of infrastructure, also have plagued the process.
Tesla plans to build a cheaper next-generation electric vehicle at the gigafactory, helped in part by $153 million in local government incentives. Musk requested last year that Nuevo Leon improve electricity, water and transportation in the region before it starts construction.
Musk said in October he wasn’t ready to go “full tilt” on the facility because of high interest rates. He also said that Tesla will produce its next-generation entry level vehicle in its Texas factory before its Mexican facility since the new plant won’t be ready in time.