Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard toured the site of the planned Tesla gigafactory in Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, on Tuesday.
State governor Samuel García and other officials also took part in the visit.
The gigafactory, to be built on 1,600 hectares near the state capital, Monterrey, will be used as a regulatory blueprint for other factories planned for Mexico, with the goal of reducing industrial water consumption.
“The most important thing about this plant,” Ebrard said during his tour, “is that the regulations applied to this plant will later be applied to other plants. Water consumption will be the lowest when compared to the rest of the industry.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised President López Obrador that he would make the plant water efficient in exchange for the construction permit. The president had previously said that Nuevo León was not the ideal location for a Tesla plant due to chronic water shortages in the northern Mexico state.
In 2022, the state’s water crisis forced authorities to implement harsh restrictions in the Monterrey metropolitan area.
Tesla’s gigafactory is part of its broader interest in Mexico. The gigafactory alone will result in an estimated investment of US $5 billion and is projected to create up to 6,000 jobs.
“[Tesla] is working with 350 engineers who graduated from Tecnológica de Monterrey [university], and there are thousands of positions available to the region,” Ebrard said.
The minister declined to comment on when the gigafactory would begin operations.
“I cannot comment on that yet because they have asked us to be careful with public information,” he told reporters.
García also refused to provide an exact start date, only noting that Tesla has begun the necessary procedures and permitting processes with the relevant government bodies.
“The good news is that this project is a top priority for all areas, all agencies, all departments, ” García said in a video posted to his social networks.
Tesla has five existing gigafactories — three in the United States, one in China and one in Germany.
An increasing number of foreign companies are investing in Mexico as part of the nearshoring trend. Favorable trade agreements and proximity to the U.S. make the country an attractive destination for foreign manufacturers looking to access the U.S. market.
With reports from Forbes and El Economista
