Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday insisted that comments made by billionaire Elon Musk regarding the possibility that Tesla will not invest in Mexico are not serious at all.
In the past two days, Musk has not only said the EV maker has halted plans for a factory in Mexico but will also reevaluate investment in a large new factory in the country after the US presidential election.
According to the Mexican President at the Republican Party convention last week in Milwaukee, US President Donald Trump announced his administration will impose tariffs of 100% to 200% on Mexican-made cars to make them unsellable in the US.
The streak, Musk sees no sense in investing in Mexico if Trump returns to the White House and then imposes heavy tariffs on vehicles produced in the Latin American country.
However, Lopez Obrador in his daily press conference questioning Musk has said that the cost of producing cars in the US is very high and this means that the founder of Tesla is not serious and they must have another business plan.
Plus US consumers save between $10,000 and $15,000 per vehicle imported from Mexico, Lopez Obrador further said.
Tesla's gigafactory is slated to be located in the state of Nuevo Leon in northeastern Mexico, where the government is working to build the necessary infrastructure after receiving no official advice from Tesla about canceling its plans.
