Photo: Joe Tegtmeyer
A Tesla board member has hinted that the automaker could be considering a new plant in Australia down the road.
Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm hinted that the automaker could open a manufacturing plant in Australia someday, saying that the company wanted to be able to manufacture on every continent (via News.com.au).
At the National Press Club in Canberra, Denholm said Tesla needed to “be in all of the major markets” to fully compete in a world moving toward EVs and lithium batteries.
Denholm noted that Tesla would continue plans to rapidly expand production capacity as the world embraces EVs.
Tesla Celebrates Model Y Launch in Australia [PICS] https://t.co/UwB3PdZJwY
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“Because when you’re when you’re setting a supply chain for the long term, you want … the kilometres those cars travel before someone actually owns (them) to be as short as possible.” Denholm said during the event. “And that includes shipping and sea freight because, again, all of those processes add to CO2 emissions.”
Although Denholm stopped short of saying a Gigafactory would be built in Australia, Denholm also noted Tesla’s new Gigafactories in Berlin, Texas and older plants in China, California, Nevada and New York.
The news comes just a month after the first Tesla Model Y units in Australia were delivered, after over a year of the automaker hinting at the electric SUV’s arrival.
