Elon Musk threatens to move Tesla from California over coronavirus restrictions
- Tesla had hoped to reopen the California factory, its only in the United States, in the beginning of May, but had been prevented by local authorities
Tesla chief Elon Musk on Saturday threatened to pull his electric car headquarters and plant out of California after local authorities kept him from resuming production due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programmes to Texas/Nevada immediately,” Musk tweeted in a long diatribe, characteristic of past online rants which are not necessarily carried out.
Referring to the California city where the cars are produced, Musk said that “if we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all” it will depend on “how Tesla is treated in the future”.
Tesla had hoped to reopen the California factory, its only in the United States, in the beginning of May, but had been prevented by local authorities.
Musk highlighted the company’s experience in China, where production of electric cars resumed after the country’s Covid-19 epidemic was brought under control.
“Tesla knows far more about what needs to be done to be safe through our Tesla China factory experience than an (unelected) interim junior official,” he tweeted, referencing a local-level health officer.