Tesla's bid to be the world's largest automaker could get a boost from huge Mexico Gigafactory
Spencer Platt

The new Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Gigafactory in Mexico is expected to be twice the size of the factory in Austin, Texas. Santa Catarina Mayor Jesus Nava disclosed the amount of land purchased by Tesla in an industrial zone is nearly 4.2K acres. Construction at the site is anticipated to begin within three months.
Nava also tipped off that Tesla (TSLA) will reveal what vehicles it will produce at the Nuevo Leon factory when the company breaks ground. During Tesla's Investor Day earlier in the week, CEO Elon Musk said the site would be for supplemental production and not replace production at any of the other Gigafactories.
Early estimates are that Tesla (TSLA) will initially spend about $5B and hire around 5K people for the manufacturing plant. The ultimate costs are seen running as high as $10B.
Tesla (TSLA) currently has capacity to build about 2M vehicles a year out of Fremont, California; Shanghai, China; Austin, Texas; and Berlin, Germany. However, the new master plan calls for production eventually reaching 20M cars a year. By comparison, Toyota (TM) and Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAF) sold just under 18M automobiles combined last year. Meanwhile, Tesla (TSLA) sold 1.37M vehicles, which ranked below automakers such as Honda (HMC), BMW (OTCPK:BMWYY), Nissan (OTCPK:NSANY), Changan, Renault (OTCPK:RNSDF), Mercedes-Benz (OTCPK:MBGAF), Maruti Suzuki, and Geely Automobile.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) moved 1.52% higher in premarket action on Friday after peeling off 5.85% on Thursday.
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