Tesla has announced it will move its company headquarters to Texas from California. Chief executive Elon Musk announced the move at the electric carmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Austin.
Mr. Musk had fallen out with local politicians in Alameda county, California, the location of a key Tesla factory, over its Covid response. He gave several reasons for the move, telling shareholders its Californian factory in Fremont was “jammed”.
California was also a difficult place for his employees to find affordable housing, he told shareholders. “There’s a limit to how big you can scale it in the Bay Area. In Austin our factory is like five minutes from the airport, 15 minutes from downtown,” he said.
The billionaire technology entrepreneur has had a bad tempered relationship on many occasions with California. In May, Musk had a high profile spat with nearby government officials in California after he was requested to keep Tesla’s Fremont plant shut.
He tweeted: “Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately.” However the move had not been confirmed until now.
Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.
