(Bloomberg) — A spokesperson for the president’s office said that Tesla Inc. is thinking about a number of options for manufacturing in Mexico. One of these options is to build on land near the new airport that serves the nation’s capital.
A spokesperson, Jesus Ramirez, said that a facility close to the airport in Mexico State would make it easy for Tesla to get to its cargo. He also said that the company is looking at places to invest in Nuevo Leon and Sonora.
Ramirez didn’t say anything about the size of the investment or what the land near the airport, which was built when Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was president, would be used for. A request for comment sent to Tesla by email was not answered right away.
Tesla has been thinking about building a third factory in North America for a long time. This would be in addition to its two factories in Texas and California. In August, Elon Musk, the company’s chief executive officer, told shareholders that a decision might be made before the end of the year. Bloomberg said in December that the company was close to making a deal for an assembly plant near Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo Leon, but no deal has been made public yet.
AIFA, an airport near Mexico City, was one of Lopez Obrador’s big ideas. It was meant to replace an airport that was started but not finished under the previous president, Enrique Pena Nieto, and to be built for less money with the help of military engineers.
Lopez Obrador has pushed for it to be used, and he was able to convince US Vice President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to land there for a meeting in January. Aeromexico said on Tuesday that it had been given permission to fly straight from the airport to Houston.
Reuters had already reported that Tesla might be interested in a piece of land near the airport.
