Elon Musk’s company established a factory in Shanghai, China, which was inaugurated in 2019, becoming the automaker’s first production plant outside its country of origin, the United States.
The construction of this complex implied a significant investment of 2,000 million dollars. Like the gigafactory in Fremont, California, this Asian plant is responsible for manufacturing the Model Y and Model 3 models. The latter is the most affordable that the company offers worldwide so far.
Dorbecker adds that companies have a clear interest in expanding their business horizons after meeting local demand and finding themselves in a stage of expansion and investment diversification. In this context, companies see “an ideal option” in the Mexican market.
“In Mexico they are finding a highly attractive and productive ecosystem for the development of their businesses thanks to the endless business opportunities that are being generated in the universe of the automotive industry,” he details.
While he did not provide additional details on the locations of the new plants, Dorbecker says some of these companies have a focus on outdoor manufacturing.
China is par excellence the great factory of the world and in the field of auto parts manufacturing is no exception. The Asian giant reached an auto parts production of 498.320 million dollars in 2022, which meant an annual increase of 5.8%, according to information from the US Bureau of Economics.
Mexico, for its part, is the fourth largest producer of components with a production value of 171.976 million dollars at the end of 2022. However, this figure represents only 21% of the figure reached by China in the same period, according to data from the National Auto Parts Industry.
Despite trade tensions between the United States and China, tycoon Elon Musk has recently expressed interest in maintaining a close relationship with the Asian giant. At the end of May, the businessman of South African origin visited China and met with Qin Gang, the country’s foreign minister, in the capital, Beijing. This marked his return to Tesla’s main production center after three years.
After the meeting, the Chinese diplomat cited that Musk was willing to “expand business” in China, in addition to opposing the decoupling of the two main economies in the world, describing them as “united twins.”