Tesla’s upcoming Gigafactory in Mexico will have a footprint of almost 4,200 acres, according to Santa Catarina mayor Jesus Nava in a recent interview, taking up almost twice as much space as the automaker’s Austin, Texas plant reports Reuters.
The site is also over twice the size of the Mexico City International Airport and will be built in an industrial region of the Nuevo Leon city. Tesla’s Giga Texas takes up 2,500 acres.
Construction on the factory is set to begin in three months, according to Nava, with an initial investment from Tesla of about $5 billion. Additionally, the company is expected to create roughly 5,000 jobs initially, but will ramp up to a $10 billion investment and as many as 10,000 workers.
“This will bring a great economic spillover,” Nava said, detailing the region’s currently expanding presence in the nearby industrial area.
The nearby city of Monterrey is just a few hours to the south of the Mexico-U.S. border, and the deal was recently called into question by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador due to water scarcity issues in the region.
According to one senior Mexican official, the new Tesla Gigafactory will produce roughly 1 million cars per year. Tesla said this year it’s on track to make 1.8 million vehicles.
AMLO, as the President is often referred to, held a phone call with Tesla CEO Elon Musk to discuss initiatives to reduce water use at the factory, including the use of recycled water in car assembly.
At Tesla’s Investor Day, the company revealed its next gen vehicle platform would take place at Gigafactory Mexico. The company also detailed a new vehicle construction that would be nearly halved in cost, compared to today, due to ongoing production and manufacturing efficiencies. Tesla also said it believes Gigafactory Mexico could be built in under nine month’s time, faster than Giga Shanghai’s record.
La Gigafactory más grande de @Tesla en el mundo llega a Nuevo León para construir su vehículo de última generación. El futuro de nuestro estado luce brillante, ¡bienvenido, @elonmusk! 🦁🔋🚘 #TeslaNuevoLeón
¡Que buen video @InvestMonterrey! pic.twitter.com/y1j6ju5PLP
— Samuel García (@samuel_garcias) March 3, 2023
