Spain, the eigth global vehicle manufacturer, has the aim of being the home of the new factory that Tesla would want to deploy in Europe
The “Model 3” of Tesla, that accumulates 500.000 requests for its market debut, in 2018, 200,000 units more that they expected, has changed the planifications of the American brand, that, as many mass media publish, is thinking to open a new factory to help the current Dutch factory of Tilburg, the only one that Tesla has in European territory. This news have arrived to many European countries that are trying to be the cutiest lady of the dance, something understandable if we think that, only to increase the operative capacity of Tesla´s Fremont plant, in California, Elon Musk´s company is going to expend arround 1,200 millions dollars. Celestial music for the European authorities.
Furthermore, Tesla´s business wants to change the way we think in vehicles, trying to evolve them into a more efficient and environmentally friendly model by developing the definitive electrical battery. Something that is giving a boost to countries like Spain, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Portugal, France or Italy to attract the American company to their floor.
Tesla Model 3, the car that could change the future of the Californian company
Spain, the “ideal” country for the new factory
Spain, the eight global vehicle manufacturer and the second in Europe´s ranking is trying to take advantage in this courtship dance. This mediterranean country, where the car production is growing up each year (the past year it grew a 13,7%, reaching the 2,73 million vehicles produced, a 15% of the European production), looks like the perfect country for Tesla´s new factory. And that´s what some regions on Spain are trying to show to Tesla. Galicia or Valence are some of the administrative regions that are running in a advertising campaign to show their key strengths.
But the Spanish authorities are not the only actors that are encouraging the skills of Spain for Tesla´s future. A private club called “Spain loves Tesla”, conformed by people inetrested in the arrive of Tesla to them country, is involved in a social networks campaign. In addition to a personal letter they sent to Elon Musk, recently they made viral in Twitter the hashtag “SpainLovesTESLA”, and Mr.Musk answered them in a funny way, saying them, in Spanish, “también te amo”, which means “I also love you“. A funny nod to this platform driven by the famous forum “Forocoches”, the biggest Spanish-sepaking forum of the Internet.
Buy, what is Spain arguing to attract tesla? Take a look to the 4 main key arguments:
Privileged geographic position
Spain is localiced in a crucial geographic position between the Atlantic Sea and the Mediterranean sea, and between Africa and Europe. This position makes this country the entrance gate for both markets, those who we have to add the Latin American market, a traditional Spanish trade rout; something that could be crucial in a mid term.
A tradicional vehicle industrial network
Spain houses many automobile brand factories like Seat, Ford, Renault, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Iveco, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot or Citröen. A powerful argument which shows that the spanish vehicle industry has a well-known trajectory.
The power of a vigorous renewable energy industry
Another powerfull field of the spanish companies is the renewable energy market. This sector, where Spain is a global leader, could help the production challenges of Tesla´s project. Especially if we consider that the current challenge of the electric car is to reach the authonomy of the traditional vehicle, something that makes the battery a crucial part of the vehicle.
Good transport Infrastuctures
200,000 road kilometres, 46 “general interest” ports, 46 airports, 2 heliports, and the largest high-velocity (2,777 km) rail network of Europe, the second one after the Chinese one, are some of the key datas that stand out in this field. All these numbers indicate the power of a the Spanish transport infrastructures, that joined with the position of the country makes it one of the most important goods traffic area of the world.
However, what is clear is that this struggle is going to be large and interesting, and it will show the strategy that Tesla will face for Europe for the next years. Where will be localiced the next European plant of Tesla? Only Musk knows it.
