After the overwhelming response Tesla's Model 3 received, it has gotten yet another offer by the French energy minister to open a production facility in France.
Tesla Motors Inc. chief executive officer Elon Musk received a suggestion from French energy minister, Segolene Royal that in the location of France’s oldest nuclear power plant, the automobile giant should build a European electric vehicle factory; as the old power plant facility is scheduled to close this by the end of the current year.
The nuclear power facility by the name of Fessenheim nuclear plant is located in Alsace and has been formally offered by Ms. Royal to Elon Musk, so that he can start Tesla’s very own electric car manufacturing vehicle facility. A local news agency reported that the Francois Hollande, the French President has already stated he will be shutting down the facility however this move by the President has received a lot of resistance from a number of local political parties and also labor unions. People fear that they will lose their jobs if the nuclear plant shuts down.
Presently, over 850 people are employed at the retired nuclear plant and 250 are contractors; if the facility shuts down, all these people are expected to lose their jobs however in Tesla’s case, opening an electric car manufacturing factory in France is going to be a smart move as the region has been a big supporter of electric cars. In Europe, France is the biggest market for the auto-maker as it provides a bonus up to 10,000 euros which is equal to $11,000 to people who own electric vehicles.
On the contrary, the CEO of Tesla has also hinted numerous times that the automobile organization needs to make its print in the European market. Earlier when Elon Musk visited France, he held an event for Tesla owners at the French Headquarter in Chambourcy, where he repeated that the automobile business needs to build a car manufacturing facility in the European region. Furthermore, sources suggest that he specifically said something about opening such a facility in Alsace where the nuclear facility is located. This region is on the River Rhine plain and shares boarders with Germany and Switzerland.
At this point, the auto-maker is in dire need to open a production facility as it is facing a lot of production issues lately. The CEO stated earlier this week that the company failed to make a significant number of deliveries of its Model X and Model S during the first quarter of the current fiscal year. He stated that they managed to deliver fewer-than-expected vehicles in the first quarter however they are planning on not making the same mistake with their latest Model 3. It reported that the company delivered over 2,400 units of Model X and over 12,420 units of Model S during the quarter.
In a press release, the company admitted its mistake of lagging behind in the production of Model X mainly due to supplier parts deficiencies especially in the first two months of the year. Mr. Musk even admitted the mistake and stated that too much technology and features were put into one vehicle due to which the production of the car became too difficult – he further stated that it is one of the most difficult cars to manufacture in the world.
Finally, if the company goes forward with building a facility in France, it will only increase demand in the European region and its production lag issues will be solved as well especially the latest Model 3, that has received an overwhelming response.
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