Mexican president Andrès Manuel Lopez Obrador confirmed during a news conference today that Tesla will build its next assembly plant in Monterrey, Mexico. He is reported as saying, "There is already an understanding, yes they are going to dedicate the investment to Mexico and the plant is going to be established in Monterrey with a series of commitments to face the problem of water scarcity."
As we reported earlier this month, Mexico has been the front runner for the location of the automaker's next plant, but exactly where within this large nation it would be located was a mystery. The city of Monterrey is about 140 miles south of the US border at Texas, which means transporting new vehicles into the US market should be relatively easy work. It's also a relatively short flight from Tesla's corporate headquarters in Austin, Texas.
Monterrey is the capital of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León and holds a population of about 4.5 million in the greater metro area. There were reported concerns that welcoming Tesla's production facility might exaggerate the region's water shortages, but Teslarati reports a conversation between the country's president and Tesla CEO Elon Musk yesterday confirmed it won't be an issue.
Obrador may have spilled the beans on the plant's location a little early, as we expected the site to be confirmed tomorrow during Tesla's Inventor Day presentation. More details may be given then, like what product the factory in Monterrey will build and its future production capacity.
Mexico is a popular location to build cars in general, but EV production there in particular has grown considerably in recent years. Ford, for instance, produces the Mustang Mach-E in Mexico while General Motors plans to establish production of some of its Ultium-powered EVs there. BMW has also announced plans to build its next-generation EVs in Mexico.
