2023-09-18 22:09:56
Elon Musk denied this Monday that the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla is in talks with Saudi Arabia for the installation in the Arab country of an automobile assembly plant, as published by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
In a message on the social network
Yet another utterly false article from WSJ pic.twitter.com/sisFcxYKxI
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2023
The news indicates that Saudi Arabia has offered Tesla, in exchange for installing a plant in the country, to facilitate the acquisition of metals and minerals necessary for the manufacture of batteries from countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has important cobalt and copper reserves.
WSJ pointed out that, according to the sources consulted, The dialogue between Tesla and Saudi Arabia is in its initial stage and could end at any time without an agreement.
Musk, CEO of Tesla, has maintained a fluid relationship with Saudi leaders for years.
In 2018, he claimed on then-Twitter that the Saudi sovereign fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, was interested in acquiring the shares of Tesla and then take the company private.
Musk’s statement, which was later proven to be untrue, got the businessman into trouble, who was fined by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and faced lawsuits from company shareholders.
Saudi Arabia also owns a considerable part of the social network X, which was acquired by Musk in October 2022.
The WSJ article appears shortly after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Musk to set up a Tesla assembly plant in his country.
Musk has expressed interest in expanding the number of Tesla assembly plants around the world to make his plan to produce 20 million vehicles per year by 2030.
One of the possible locations for a new Tesla assembly plant is the Spanish town of Valencia. According to US media published in January, the leak of Tesla’s possible arrival in Spain provoked Musk’s anger.
#Twitter #owner #Elon #Musk #denies #Tesla #negotiating #install #assembly #plant #Saudi #Arabia