EV giant Tesla to weigh Nashville for its new Cybertruck Gigafactory

Following praising Tesla for assembling around a million electric vehicles, company CEO Elon Musk has recently announced that the firm is exploring possible locations for new factories in the central United States to manufacture the all-electric Cybertruck and Model Y crossover.

According to a tweet, Musk said that the new factory would be used to manufacture Model Y crossovers for the East Coast market. Currently, the first Model Y cars are being manufactured at the company’s plant in Fremont, California. Meanwhile, Nashville is on a shortlist of contenders for a new factory to manufacture the Cybertruck.

Reportedly, Musk launched the truck, the company’s sixth model, in November at Tesla’s Los Angeles event and said it will cost around USD 39,900. The truck, designed like a metallic trapezoid, will be competing against American-made trucks like GM’s Chevrolet Silverado and Ford F Series.

As per sources, Tennessee is already shaping up as a hub for EV production, with Volkswagen spending USD 800 million to enlarge its Chattanooga-based factory in Tennessee and convert it into its North American base for developing electric vehicles.

According to a statement, VW had said that electric vehicle production at Tennessee is expected to commence in the year 2022. Meanwhile, Nissan has been developing Nissan Leaf at Smyrna-based factory since 2013.

Tesla assembles its Model X, Model S, and Model 3 vehicles in Fremont-based factory which was once home to New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), which was jointly owned by General Motors and Toyota. Tesla bought the factory in the year 2010 and saw the first Model S being manufactured in June 2012.

While in 2018, Tesla collaborated with the Chinese government to develop a factory in Shanghai for manufacturing the Model 3. As of now, Tesla is eyeing land for another vehicle production factory near Berlin. This German-based factory will manufacture Model Y and Model 3 for the European market.

Source Credit -  https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/10/tesla-is-searching-central-u-s-for-a-cybertruck-gigafactory-site/