Report: Tesla Considering Austin, Tulsa for Next U.S. Factory

Texas and Oklahoma are two finalists for Tesla’s next U.S. factory, CNBC reported, citing a source intimately familiar with the site search.

The report said Tesla representatives visited two locations in Tulsa that may be a good fit for the fifth Gigafactory. Austin has been the favorite for the new factory, with Musk making references on Twitter about the possibility of a Texas factory.

Tulsa has had a public campaign to attract Tesla, launching a clever, meme-splattered website. “Seriously, we’re ready to close this deal, and we promise we’ll move fast, like Plaid powertrain fast,” the site says.

Austin and Tulsa are also located in truck country, which makes them a good home for manufacturing the Cybertruck and Semi, which is what is intended for the next factory.

Musk, angry about county health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, said on Twitter Saturday that the company will move its headquarters and “future operations” out of California.

“Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependent on how Tesla is treated in the future.”

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt tweeted at Musk, offering to talk about a deal to bring Tesla to Oklahoma.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1259219390601539584

Musk said an announcement on the location of Tesla’s next factory in the U.S. could come as soon as this month, but likely within the next two months.

 

[jboy210]

I saw what MO offered, and WOW. My comment is that TX does not (to my knowledge) offer 1 and 2 to anyone (I was in the Economic Development business for 10 years in Texas). And Texas is still the #1 destination for companies leaving California and has been for the last 12 years. I picked up my Teslas at the Houston Tesla Service Center (and took pictures too!) so I don't see why we couldn't drive to Hutto and pick up CyberTruck at the factory (its not a deanship but I could wrong about this point).

I get your point. But these Billionaire/Trillionaire company owners seem to be milking communities pretty well. Consider the Amazon 2nd HQ bidding. And now I hear from people at Amazon there may be a 3rd major campus up for bid in the next year or two.

 

[CyberGus]

Few people will move from the Bay Area to Austin, TX

The Great Dot-Com Migration of the 1990s would indicate otherwise.

Don’t mess w/TX

 

[ohmman]

The Great Dot-Com Migration of the 1990s would indicate otherwise.

Yeah, there are plenty of Bay Area transplants in Austin. I lived there for twenty years before moving in the opposite direction, but we always knew California folks. They were usually courted in winter, though, and that first summer was always a reckoning. And by summer, I mean April through September and sometimes October.

I think that the Austin area would be a good fit for a Tesla factory. We had a lot of chip manufacturing there, worker protections are much lower than in California (whichever way you stand on this, it does fit with Tesla's employment style and saves a lot of money), and there is a good pool of talent. Real estate outside of the city is relatively inexpensive. I don't know how ideal the location is as far as distribution logistics, though.

 

[Grant]

Word on the Internet is that Tesla has already decided on the Austin area for the factory. They are still trying to make it look competitive (with Tulsa, etc.), probably to extract the most tax credits and other benefits possible from Texas.

 

[longshadows]

Why is Tesla moving to Texas? Texas has proven to be business friendly (not to mention there is no state income tax for workers).

Texas No.1 destination for companies leaving California for last 12 years

Texas No.1 destination for companies leaving California for last 12 years

Texas has been hostile to Tesla over the years, overly restricting its operations and sales. I guess that might change. Maybe those good ol' boys in Austin finally see oil is not the wave of the future.

 

[Merenkov]

Texas has been hostile to Tesla over the years, overly restricting its operations and sales. I guess that might change. Maybe those good ol' boys in Austin finally see oil is not the wave of the future.

We have a powerful independent car dealer's association in Texas. The concern is not Tesla per se - the fear is that allowing Tesla to open a true company-owned dealership would set a precedent for Ford, GM, VW, etc., and destroy the independently owned dealerships. I'm a free market guy myself, think the current dealership laws are archaic, and could care less if Ford had company-owned stores too. That said, I bought my Tesla direct over the internet and picked it up in Dallas (I live in Austin), and it was fairly easy. Wish I could have just picked it up at a dealership in Austin, though...

 

[Regulator]

The Great Dot-Com Migration of the 1990s would indicate otherwise.

Don’t mess w/TX

Texas has 75% of the population of California, but only 67% of the GDP. In 2006, TX only had 52% of CA's GDP, so we'll see what the drop in oil prices does to TX in the next year or so.

 

[Earthpower]

You really think Tesla could find the engineering talent they need in Tulsa Oklahoma, and/or Bay Area engineers would be willing to relocate there?

I wish Texas would just give them the incentives they need to have the Austin area plant pencil out, and everyone could get on with things already.

Oklahoma is an oil state that is OK with earthquakes caused by fracking. It should be the last place for a factory. There's been a lot of structural damage to buildings from earthquakes there.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

Oklahoma is an oil state that is OK with earthquakes caused by fracking. It should be the last place for a factory. There's been a lot of structural damage to buildings from earthquakes there.

And let's not talk about it being in Tornado Alley...

 

[Niroc]

Didn’t Musk learn anything from the California plant? Austin is another California socialistic template that reeks of ideological insanity. It will cause nothing but headaches at some future event.

Place your factory into an area that values the idea of labor.

 

[Earthpower]

I don't see Texas as a place that values labor.
To a point, if Musk wants the wild west attitude during a pandemic (I have a right to sicken myself and you too) why go to a generally progressive part of Texas? Because the other parts would try to snuff out electric car makers. I'm not convinced Texas would not try to do this if Tesla moved there. What's wrong with Colorado? Too cold? How about North Carolina? NC only allows sales in one location, but at least allows Tesla sales in one location.

 

[Earthpower]

"Texas reports highest one-day spike in coronavirus cases" (5/18/20). OK Musk, if that's what you want.
Countries that controlled the virus have recovered their economies faster. I think California will be doing better than the rest of the country economically as they may not have to close down repeatedly. IMHO

 

[lkstaack]

I bought my both my Teslas directly from Tesla. Who do you know in Texas that did not?

How can you legally purchase a Tesla in Texas if it bans the direct sale model? What's the workaround, and how does the average Texan feel about it?

 

[jboy210]

Didn’t Musk learn anything from the California plant? Austin is another California socialistic template that reeks of ideological insanity. It will cause nothing but headaches at some future event.

Place your factory into an area that values the idea of labor.

Doesn't valuing labor include making sure they have a safe working place?

Anyway, since Tesla and the County were negotiation details before Elon's tweets, my 2 cents he used the local health department as a bargaining chip to get a better deal from Austin and OKC.

Think about how Bezos played cities and states off against each other for Amazon's HQ2. According to Wikipedia. "Virginia will provide $573 million in tax breaks, $23 million in cash, and other incentives. New York planned to give Amazon tax breaks of at least $1.525 billion, cash grants of $325 million, and other incentives." "Nashville offered $102 million in performance-based incentives, plus a cash grant of up to $15 million based on each new job added. In addition, the Tennessee government offered a cash grant of up to $21.7 million based on each new job added."

 

[SilverString]

Didn’t Musk learn anything from the California plant? Austin is another California socialistic template that reeks of ideological insanity. It will cause nothing but headaches at some future event.

Place your factory into an area that values the idea of labor.

That is what you hear because of a small vocal majority mostly coming from the heart of Austin. I have lived in Austin for 45 years and can tell you that the mood in Hutto and in Pflugerville and in Williamson County and in the rest of Texas does not reflect those values. The Mayor ofd Austin is a mini-dictator and will hopefully be voted out next round.

 

[gfjames2]

Texas and Oklahoma are two finalists for Tesla’s next U.S. factory, CNBC reported, citing a source intimately familiar with the site search. The report said Tesla representatives visited two locations in Tulsa that may be a good fit for the fifth Gigafactory. Austin has been the favorite for the new factory, with Musk making references...
[WPURI="https://teslamotorsclub.com/blog/2020/05/15/report-tesla-considering-austin-tulsa-for-next-u-s-factory/"]READ FULL ARTICLE[/WPURI]

Need to remember Elon has a vested interest in Texas with SpaceX having a facility in Boca Chica. My understanding is that they have been purchasing a lot of land in that area. You would think he would have considerable leverage in Texas. My two cents....

 

[EV-Tiger]

How can you legally purchase a Tesla in Texas if it bans the direct sale model? What's the workaround, and how does the average Texan feel about it?

What are you talking about? Texans can (and do) legally purchase and take delivery of Teslas in Texas. Thousands of Texans have purchased cars directly from Tesla. There is even a thread in this TMC forum where Texans discuss their Model 3 purchases and deliveries. The thread was started in Feb 2018 and is 165 pages long.

Texas Hold Up!

There is no "workaround". You order the Tesla on-line, when manufactured the State of Texas assigns the VIN, you then pay for the car on-line (included in the price is the sales tax owed to the State of Texas) and when deliver to a nearby service center, you pick it up.

 

[DouglasJohnson]

How can you legally purchase a Tesla in Texas if it bans the direct sale model? What's the workaround, and how does the average Texan feel about it?

What you can't do in Texas is walk into a Tesla store and give them an order for a car. You can get a test drive, kick the tires, get questions answered, and they'll even sit with you with you while you order one on line. It looks like a big improvement to the car buying process to me. Maybe Texas shouldn't change the law.
-- Doug

 

[nativespinner]

RE: Texas. I also believe you can't buy a car that is currently in the store or service center. It has to be delivered, Or am I missing something?

 

[TexasEV]

Didn’t Musk learn anything from the California plant? Austin is another California socialistic template that reeks of ideological insanity. It will cause nothing but headaches at some future event.

“Austin” doesn’t mean within the city of Austin, just as the Berlin factory isn’t in Berlin. The area being talked about for an Austin factory isn’t even in the same county.