Preparations on the eve of the grand opening of the Tesla factory on April 6, 2022 in Austin, Texas ( AFP / SUZANNE CORDEIRO )
Between the thousands of invitations and the cult devoted to Elon Musk by his fans, the inauguration of the new Tesla factory in Austin on Thursday looks like a star concert, in the now established tradition of the whimsical billionaire who celebrates extraordinary growth of his company and his establishment in Texas, far from the Californian culture.
The automaker’s founder and boss tweeted several photos of the preparations, including a psychedelic pentagon-shaped tunnel and Teslas on a stage framed in neon lights. He will deliver a speech around 9:00 p.m.
For several days, fans of the high-end electric vehicle brand have been tweeting about it asking for tickets to the event.
It will accommodate up to 15,000 people, according to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.
“I found the golden ticket!” Tweeted Wednesday Luke Metzger, president of a Texas environmental NGO, in reference to “Charlie and the chocolate factory”.
“Thank you Elon Musk!” he added, along with a screenshot of his invitation to “Cyber Rodeo – Giga Texas – 1 Tesla Road, Austin, Texas”.
The company, very secretive, communicates little, but the information circulates through the back door.
“Big party for the opening of Tesla’s new $1.1 billion home spanning 74 acres. Free interactive tours. Free BBQ. Open bar,” the WhenWhereWhatAustin Instagram account posted Tuesday, which lists events in the Texas capital.
– “Problem of rich” –
“Giga Texas”, whose surface is equivalent to a hundred football fields, has been in operation since the end of 2021.
The new Tesla factory in Austin, on the eve of its inauguration, on April 6, 2022 in Texas (AFP / SUZANNE CORDEIRO)
It is Tesla’s fifth “mega-factory”, after those in Nevada, New York, Shanghai and Berlin – its first European site – which opened to great fanfare in March.
These factories produce cars, as well as equipment and batteries on a very large scale. That of Austin could launch production of the Cybertruck pickup and the Semi truck in 2023.
“Tesla has a rich problem: demand is outstripping supply to the point that Model Ys and some Model 3s are shipping 5-6 months late in some parts of the world,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives. “The solution lies mainly in Austin and Berlin.”
The company wants to grow its deliveries by 50% on average per year, and should “comfortably” exceed this goal in 2022, Elon Musk said in January.
The Model Y electric car on the production line at the Tesla gigafactory, on March 22, 2022 in Berlin (POOL / Patrick Pleul)
Tesla has delivered more than a million vehicles over the past twelve months, despite the shortage of electronic chips.
In the first quarter alone, Tesla delivered 67% more vehicles than for the same period in 2021, when Toyota and General Motors saw their sales fall by more than 20% in volume.
– “Identity crisis” –
Thursday evening also marks the personal evolution of Elon Musk. The South African entrepreneur, who became the world’s richest man, founded Tesla in 2003 in Silicon Valley, California, but moved its headquarters to Texas at the end of 2021.
Elon Musk attends the start of the production line at Tesla’s “Gigafactory”, on March 22, 2022 in Grünheide, south of Berlin (POOL / Patrick Pleul)
This American state is known for its conservative policies – it made headlines recently for having adopted a particularly restrictive law on abortion – and for its tax incentives: there are no taxes on corporations, nor on income.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, Tesla benefited from tax exemptions valued at more than 60 million dollars to build its mega-factory, supposed to eventually employ 10,000 people.
Texas is also synonymous with oil and big, polluting cars. “I think Elon Musk is having a bit of an identity crisis. He forgot who his clients were,” comments independent analyst Rob Enderle.
But the boss is in trouble with California on various subjects.
In February, the state Democrat filed a lawsuit against the Fremont plant for racial discrimination. The site is also known for failed unionization attempts.
And in May 2020, at the start of the pandemic when the authorities refused to immediately reopen this same factory because of health measures, Elon Musk challenged them to come and “stop” him.
The county of Hidalgo, in southern Texas, had jumped at the chance, offering to come and set up its activities on its territory. But it was Travis County, a suburb of attractive – and Democratic – Austin, which won the favor of the very courted businessman.