Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk confirmed Wednesday that the automaker will build a new assembly plant in Mexico.
"We're excited to announce the next Tesla Gigafactory will be in Mexico near Monterrey," Musk said at the company's Investor Day event at its Austin, Texas, factory. Monterrey is the capital of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, which shares a border with Texas.
"We will continue to expand production at all of our existing factories," Musk said, naming facilities in California, Texas, Nevada, Germany and China. "So GigaMexico would be supplemental to the output at all other factories."
Musk didn't say what vehicle will be built in Mexico, but he and other company executives dropped several hints that Tesla is planning to build a more affordable vehicle or multiple vehicles on a new platform. One of those vehicles could be a dedicated robotaxi without human controls.
Tesla did say again that the Cybertuck is coming this year, with volume production expected in 2024.
Tesla executives also outlined new manufacturing and engineering efficiencies and other innovations that could cut production costs for the new vehicle platform in half compared to the compact platform used for the Model 3 sedan and Model Y.
Musk claimed consumers' appetite for Tesla vehicles is essentially infinite but said the automaker has to reduce prices.
"The desire for people to own a Tesla is very high," Musk said. "The limiting factory is affordability."