Elon Musk: Tesla Likely To Establish UK-Based Engineering Group In Future, Brexit Not An Issue
In recent comments relating to the company’s acquisition of the German engineering firm Grohmann, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that the electric vehicle pioneer would likely be establishing a UK-based engineering group at some point.
The exact comments were: “We have a lot of respect for the British automotive engineering talent. Just look at Formula 1 — it amazes me how much British talent there is in that. … We are likely to establish a Tesla engineering group in Britain at some point in the future.”
Notably, Musk also stated that he “did not see” Brexit and any associated potential turmoil as being something that would have a “significant impact” on the company’s plans in Europe.
Following current expansion plans, and going on many earlier comments, Tesla is likely to be developing a new full-scale battery manufacturing “Gigafactory” in Europe within the near future. Where exactly remains an unknown, with many regions having expressed an interest in attracting the company of course.
As it stands, Tesla possesses an assembly facility in the Netherlands, but most manufacturing takes place at its Fremont, California, facility. Most of the battery pack manufacturing will be shifting to the Gigafactory in Nevada as it continues coming online.
According to Musk, the search is for an “ideal location” — presumably meaning somewhere with a skilled workforce, access to easy means of shipment, and relatively cheap operational costs.
“Tesla is going to make some very significant investments in Europe — and the US of course,” Musk stated. “There is no question of at least one, maybe two or three gigafactory locations in Europe in the future.”
“Currently Europe is a market for Tesla but we think it the right thing to do is to start producing cars there as soon as we can reasonably do.”
As quoted by the Telegraph in its coverage, Professor David Bailey, an auto industry researcher at Aston university, thought that the move made a lot of sense.
“A British engineering base would make a lot of sense for Tesla. The Midlands, for example, has what I call a ‘phoenix industry’ of cutting-edge firms working in low carbon and driverless automotive technologies, linked both to universities and the motorsport industry. … Just as auto makers go to Silicon Valley to tap into software design, so too auto firms come to the UK for design and engineering skills and technology.”
Expect to hear more on the subject soon, as the company gets closer to the launch of the Model 3.
Featured image credit: Chanan Bos | CleanTechnica
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