Yes, I do mean rumors. But, these are rumors with lots of sources and they fit in with some other happenings.
You probably know that “the plan” was to produce this new vehicle at the Giga Mexico factory starting in 2024. Unfortunately, the permitting process for Giga Mexico is taking much longer than expected. Tesla had previously told some of it’s suppliers in China to get moving fast on factories in Mexico but the word now is that they have been told they can “slow down”.
The main rumor is that initial production of the new car will be at the Giga Texas facility. Part Two of this rumor is that the the future Tesla Robotaxi will basically be the new Tesla with all the considerations for autonomy. Joe Tegtmeyer has been doing drown flyovers of Giga Texas since the beginning on a daily basis. His most recent Giga Texas video talks a bit about this. In particular, there has been quite a few changes to the main building and this change of plans fits in with the previously unexplained changes.
Some other items help make this all fit together.
- Elon has commented that having the engineers “near” the production line will make things go a lot smoother.
- There is apparently a new design for the new car and Elon said “it has a Cybertruck feel”. That fits in with Tesla advertising for “Cybertruck design engineers” for Giga Texas even though the Cybertruck is already starting production.
Clearly it will cost a bit more to make the new car in Texas than Mexico because of higher labor costs but the production plans are for a highly automated factory so the difference in labor costs may not be a huge number.
