Tesla would be in talks with regional authorities in Valencia, Spain. A regional government spokesman told Reuters it had held meetings with an unidentified firm regarding a “major investment in the automotive sector” but declined to give further details, citing the confidentiality of the talks.
Another source confirmed that the company in question is Tesla. The business daily Cinco Dias, citing sources, said that the investment will concern the construction of an automobile plant and could reach a total value of 4.5 billion euros, therefore in line with what was foreseen for the planned gigafactory in Mexico, at Monterrey. All different from what the CEO suggests Elon Musk after meeting three weeks ago with the French president Emmanuel Macron.
The Valencian government denied the existence of a deal concluded with Tesla and the Texan builder did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while the Madrid government declined to comment. On Wall Street, the rumors helped move the stock to new highs for the year (+113%) and for seven months, over $230 for a market cap of 733 billion.
Currently, the only European factory of Tesla is located in Germany, in Grünheide, near Berlin. It has grown to produce 5,000 cars a week and could grow from half a million units to a million a year.
As for Spain, with over 2.2 million, it is the second car manufacturer in Europe (after Germany and ahead of France) and is using the European funds of the Pnrr to attract investments in the battery and electric vehicle sector. With a focus on batteries, the Volkswagen group started work on a 40 GWh gigafactory in Sagunto, also near Valencia, on 17 March, its second in Europe (the first is in Salzgitter, Germany, with production starting in 2025) . It will give employment to 3 thousand people. The total planned investment is 10 billion and production will start in 2026.