The automotive manufacturer Tesla has struck a deal with business-friendly Nuevo León to have its own private lane at a Mexico-U.S. border crossing. A bit like a fast track security checkpoint at the airport, the lane is solely for companies that work with Tesla and the automaker’s employees.
Tesla now has six different companies providing parts for its vehicles in Mexico, including EnFlex Corp., Quanta Computer, Faurecia SE, ZF Friedrichshafen AG and APG Mexico. State authorities say the new exclusive lane will make border crossings more efficient and faster, even though there is no similar exclusive lane on the U.S. side of the border.
Neither Tesla nor the state of Nuevo León seem to think a lane for a single company is a problem, with Economy Minister Ivan Rivas adding that in the future “… maybe there will be lanes for other companies …”
Tesla’s private lane is at the Colombia Solidarity International Bridge, a lesser known crossing north of the Laredo, Texas, crossing (which is one of the busier ones). Bloomberg News reports that neither Tesla nor state officials responded to requests for comments so it’s unknown what the manufacturer offered in exchange. But Nuevo León is building its electric vehicle industry, which Rivas says will provide 5-7% of the state’s investments this year.
Despite a heavy presence in Mexico, Tesla founder Elon Musk continues to insist “Teslas are the most made-in-USA vehicles.” The company is No. 1 on the Cars.com 2022 American-Made Index that ranks car companies on how much of their production and manufacturing takes place inside the United States.
With reports from Xataka, Bloomberg News and Electrek
