PARIS (Reuters) – France wants Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer led by Elon Musk, to build its next big factory (“gigafactory”) in the country, Jean-Noël Barrot, the Minister Delegate for the Transition, said on Wednesday. digital, as Emmanuel Macron prepares to meet Elon Musk for the second time in just over a month.
Politicians had previously told Reuters that France was seeking to convince Chinese automaker BYD and Tesla to build their next factories in France. “It would be great to have a Tesla factory in France, a lot of effort and energy has been spent to make this possible and can take place,” Jean-Noël Barrot told the American channel CNBC. “We have also invested in the electric battery sector, and we will therefore try to convince (Elon Musk) that France is the best possible place in Europe to set up the next Tesla factory”, continued the minister.
Elon Musk, who met Emmanuel Macron and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on May 15, then said he was convinced that Tesla would make “significant investments” in France, without giving a precise date.
On Wednesday, Emmanuel Macron said he would meet Elon Musk again on Friday.
France has already tried in the past to convince Elon Musk to build a factory in the country, but the leader of Tesla had chosen Germany to set up his only European factory there.
(Report Michel Rose, Akash Sriram, Corentin Chapron, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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