Tesla looking to open a second factory in the US after building its millionth car
Elon Musk is ready to expand beyond his first US factory and a new assembly line in China.
Electric car specialist Tesla is looking for a new location in the US to build a factory dedicated to producing the Cybertruck – and it could be in North America’s pick-up heartland.
Tesla boss Elon Musk said on Twitter: “Scouting locations for Cybertruck Gigafactory. (It) Will be central USA”.
In a separate message, Musk wrote: “Model Y (compact SUV) production for east coast too.”
The Cybertruck was unveiled earlier this year amid much fanfare; Tesla took more than 100,000 orders within the first few days even though one of the stunts on stage backfired when Musk broke the side glass with a blunt object, rather than demonstrating its strength.
In the US, the Cybertruck is expected to go on sale in late 2021 priced from about $40,000.
The Tesla website in Australia is also taking customer deposits – $150 to reserve a place in the queue – but no local pricing has been announced, nor is it clear which models might be sold here.
In January, Tesla said it needed to increase its battery capacity to suit models such as the Cybertruck. Last month, Musk took to Twitter to ask his 32 million social media followers if Tesla should build a new gigafactory in Texas.
In the meantime, Tesla is busy ramping up production for the Model Y compact SUV at its factory in Fremont, California, and plans to deliver the first vehicles in the US by the end of March.
Yesterday, Tesla announced it had built its one millionth car. However the company still does not disclose how many vehicles it has sold in Australia.
MORE: Everything Tesla
MORE: Electric car news