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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has reportedly asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk to build an electric vehicle factory in his country. Erdogan who is in New York to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly used this opportunity to meet Musk at the Turkish House which is located very close to the United Nations headquarters. Aside from the request, it’s unclear what else the two talked about.
There are currently a total of six Tesla production plants
It remains to be seen whether the request will be accepted or not, given that there are many other countries clamoring to host one of the new Tesla factories, starting with India. The world‘s largest electric car maker has six factories around the world and has already committed to building a seventh site in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon. However, in May Musk announced that within the year he would choose a location for the next factory.
Will the eighth factory be entrusted with the production of the Model 2?
At the moment India is in the best position for the new factory. Tesla had initially planned to export its electric vehicles to the Asian country, but after local officials rejected requests to eliminate import tariffs, Musk reportedly opted to build an electric vehicle factory in India. The new location could be entrusted with the production of the brand’s long-awaited $25,000 electric model.
Turkey already has an electricity producer, Togg
Turkey’s interest in encouraging the Californian manufacturer to expand its presence in the country is somewhat of a surprise given that there is already a local electric car manufacturer, Togg. The car manufacturer started production and the first deliveries of the T10X electric SUV at the beginning of this year which went rather well, so much so that 177,400 pre-orders were collected in just 21 days of availability on the market.