California Drives Tesla to Move Headquarters to Texas
Musk cited affordable housing for employees as one of the biggest reasons for the move.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has officially announced that Tesla is moving its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, Texas.
Musk cited affordable housing for employees as one of the biggest reasons for the move.
The meeting took place at Tesla’s vehicle assembly plant under construction outside of Austin on a property that borders the Colorado River, near the city’s airport.
However, the company plans to increase production in its California plant regardless of the headquarters move.
“To be clear we will be continuing to expand our activities in California,” Musk said. “Our intention is to increase output from Fremont and Giga Nevada by 50%. If you go to our Fremont factory it’s jammed.”
But, he added, “It’s tough for people to afford houses, and people have to come in from far away….There’s a limit to how big you can scale in the Bay Area.”
I would also suggest that the attitude of some of our leading politicians helped inspire the decision.
A story in 3 panels. #Capitalism #CaliforniaVSTexas pic.twitter.com/xCrYCF2eto
— Leslie Eastman (@Mutnodjmet) October 8, 2021
On the other hand, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott touted the plans as a big win for the Lone Star State, Tesla, and capitalism.
“Transformational leaders like Tesla picked Texas for their next generation of innovation,” Abbott said, as the broadcast cut to the burgeoning construction site of the company’s $1.1 billion gigafactory in eastern Travis County.
Now, with Tesla’s headquarters moving to Austin, Abbott is once again touting the state’s allure when it comes to corporations looking to relocate.
“Here in Texas, we invest in our pro-business environment and work with entrepreneurs to develop and grow their businesses,” the governor said in a statement to KXAN. “Because of this, Texas continues to be a magnet for talent and innovation.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom pouted and credited state policies for Tesla’s success.
And he said California deserved some of the credit for Tesla’s success, giving the company “hundreds of millions of dollars” in tax breaks and adopting policies to encourage electric cars. California has for years required automakers to sell zero-emission vehicles in the state or buy credits from companies that do, and it remains the country’s largest electric vehicle market.
“Our regulatory environment helped create that company and grow that company,” Newsom said. “I have reverence and deep respect for that individual. But I also have deep reverence and respect for this state and what we’ve done.”
Newsom can whine all he wants, but California politicians and their polices helped drive Tesla to Texas.
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Comments
Austin? They should fit in well!
It’s the irony of Newsom having declared that CA is going to mandate electric cars only by 2030 (I think) and yet the only electric car manufacturer in CA leaves. These are great, high-wage jobs that are leaving. Who is going to pay for all of the welfare for the illegal immigrants and poor people?
The disappearing middle class.
Umm, Tesla is not leaving CA, it will continue to operate at what used to be the NUMMI Motors plant in CA. It just chose not to build another factory in CA. And, it’s not as if Austin can be characterized at “typical Texas.”
Musk seems to do things his own way, for his own reasons. He might just want to show that he’s willing to relocate outside CA to give him more negotiating power when it comes time to ask CA for subsidies, or at least to beat back attempts by CA gov’t to extract more money out of Tesla.
Musk has made a major commitment to Texas. He lives here, and SpaceX has their launch and production facilities in the valley.
Before it was NUMMI, it was a GM plant building Chevrolets and I think Pontiacs. California’s chapters of the UAW were far more militant than the other ones, and assembly line sabotage was rampant.
GM closed Fremont, South Gate, Van Nuys, and I think one other. Chrysler abandoned City of Commerce, Ford left Richmond, San Jose, and Pico Rivera. The unions showed all three who was boss.
The rest of the country through a federal bailout.
Not to throw cold water on this, but I think Texas needs to do all it can to discourage obvious lefties and leftist corporations from moving to Texas. They’ll try to turn Texas blue. Austin is nearly as bad as San Francisco. Maybe worse in some ways.
Musk seems to be a purple libertarian type who parts ways with the neo-Marxists when it affects his business and what he wants to do. But his HQ staff may not be.
The abortion and election integrity laws are a good start.
It would see a lot of Leftists who work for Tesla to be moving to Texas.
They do like to crap in their own bed then move where its clean then vote to have crap in their bed again.
I am very suspicious of Musk. He is rich because he is a rent seeker. His “success” is based on taxpayers and government authority to force Musk-friendly behavior. A free market is a threat.
If the left wanted to invade Texas, how would a partial move by Musk look any different than this move to Austin? Austin is becoming a city with a shrinking police force and the cops who are left get prosecuted for doing their job. Austin today is not the Austin of a couple of decades ago.
Musk replied…
LMAO
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom pouted and credited state policies for Tesla’s success.”
More like Tesla succeeded in spite of California.
I;m surprised old Gruesome could pull his head out of his posterior long enough to comment on Tesla’s departure. And good progressive Californians say that Tesla is not really leaving. Tesla will still operate its existing factory in the Bay area. But the Tesla battery plant–goes to Nevada. Tesla headquarters–goes to Austin. A new Tesla plant–will be built in Texas. Are Gruesome and his California followers smart enough to notice a trend here? I think probably not. Ignorance can be cured, but California stupid is forever.
They can’t notice trends… they’re too busy looking at their feet, scraping human feces off their shoe.
So will CA ban the import of Tesla when the HQ relocation is complete? TX has lots if icky non-progressive things; voter ID, abortion restrictions, gun rights.
That’s why the factory remains: handling in-state sales. If California’s politicians get too demanding, they can add Tesla to Chrysler, GM, Ford, and Uniroyal’s departures.
Austin is replete with CA exiles who moved to escape the problems caused by CA’s hard-left politics. But then they vote just like they did in CA, and bring their hard-left politics to Texas.
This same thing happened 20 years ago to Boulder, CO. Both Boulder and Austin have become misplaced California cities that drag down their whole states.
Guess all the carpetbaggers that move with Tesla will help “Keep Austin Weird”.
I don’t care if he moves his HQ, as long as he doesn’t move any Californians.
Elon and his company are not welcome in Texas They are ulta-liberal green fanatics, and they have no place in the great red state of Tejas. Even though Austin has become a bastion of liberalism, the blue plague of Tesla should not be allowed in Texas. We don’t need no stinkin sparky cars
Alabama? You laugh? Tuscaloosa has Mercedes-Benz, Montgomery has Hyundai, Huntsville has Toyota-Mazda, and all three are expanding. As for our neighbors, Kia is in west Georgia, VW in Chattanooga, and BMW in South Carolina.
The best part is that there are enough sane locals to keep the loony leftists from California to have much effect on voting patterns.
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