Elon Musk is set to meet with President Macron for the second time in a month amid rumors of Tesla potentially building a factory in France.
Less than a month ago, Musk flew to Paris to meet with President Emanuel Macron, and following the meeting, the Tesla CEO said that the automaker is looking at a potential “significant investment” in France.
Now Musk is going to meet Macron again tomorrow – spurring rumors that Tesla might be looking to close a deal in France.
Macron said that he plans to talk about AI and energy with Musk, but he also didn’t hide the fact that he will try to secure a Tesla factory (via Le Parisien – translated from French):
We have also invested in a whole sector of electric batteries, and we will therefore try to convince him that France is the best possible place in Europe to set up the next Tesla factory.
Adding to the momentum for a Tesla factory in France, Musk recently confirmed that Tesla should announce a new factory location by the end of the year.
Tesla already announced a new factory in Mexico just a few months ago, but we knew it wouldn’t be long before a new factory location was revealed.
That’s because Tesla plans to build 20 million vehicles per year by the end of the decade.
Considering Tesla’s currently built or announced factories are expected to be limited to about six million vehicles, we knew the automaker had to start work on a couple of other factories soon if it wanted them to enter production in time.
Electrek’s Take
With two meetings with Macron in about a month, it looks like Tesla is at least seriously considering France for its next factory in Europe.
Last time we reported on this possibility, a lot of people noted that Tesla’s culture would likely clash with France’s pro-union work culture. That’s probably true, but Tesla also doesn’t seem too scared about that considering it built Gigafactory Berlin, and the Germans also have a very pro-union work culture.
We will keep an eye on any developments.