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Frankfurt / Mainz (dpa) – In its search for a location for a large European plant, the US manufacturer of electric cars Tesla, according to a report also Rhineland-Palatinate or Saarland in view.
The American company held talks in Germany with two federal states on a "Giga factory" for the construction of electric cars and batteries under one roof, the business paper "The Wall Street Journal" reported on Monday. Appeal to people familiar with the case.
Rhineland-Palatinate confirmed Tuesday its interest in the Tesla factory. "Of course, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is in good exchange with the company," said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs on request. "Tesla has a location in Rhineland-Palatinate with Tesla Grohmann." However, business information will always be treated confidentially. Tesla bought Grohmann from Prüm in November 2016. Grohmann builds automated systems for the production of vehicles. In Rhineland-Palatinate, Kaiserslautern also has a competence center for digitization.
In addition to Rhineland-Palatinate, the Saarland also advertised for Tesla, according to the Wirtschaftsblatt. Discussions are still at an early stage, he said. Also on a location in the Netherlands had been negotiated. A supplement for a German factory is therefore not yet safe.
Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) and Deputy Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger (SPD) had already in June in a joint letter to Telsa recruited and invited the boss of Tesla Elon Musk to speak on the spot. The Saarland is not only largely positioned in the automotive industry, but also known as one of the world's leading sites for computer and artificial intelligence, according to Hans and Rehlinger at this time . The state government did not comment on this in the beginning.
In June, Musk wrote in the Twitter short message service that Germany was a "first choice" in Europe. The Franco-German border and its proximity to the Benelux countries could be useful, he explained. A location in Rhineland-Palatinate or Saar would therefore be obvious due to the favorable situation of the important sales market France.
Tesla recently announced plans to build its first overseas plant in China. Until now, the Group produces its electric cars mainly in California Fremont. At first, Tesla did not comment on the media report.
The American manufacturer of electric cars is currently in a critical development phase. The new model 3 will allow the company to position itself on the niche of a superclbad provider in a broader market. At the same time, Tesla must rely on billions of investment in the development and production of Model 3 and high losses on the fact that the new car finally brings significant sales in cash.
However, the company had huge problems to increase production. Only at the end of June – with a delay of one and a half years – Tesla achieved its self-imposed goal of building 5,000 model 3 vehicles in a week. The company's stock price has dropped from $ 370 to $ 290 over the last six weeks.
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