Chinese Tesla suppliers to invest nearly US$1 billion in northern Mexico: State officials

MEXICO CITY: Two Chinese suppliers for Tesla will invest nearly a billion dollars in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon where the automaker is planning a new factory, Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel Garcia said during a trip to Shanghai on Wednesday.

The planned investments include US$700 million from Ningbo Tuopu Group and US$260 million from Hesai Technology, a Nuevo Leon representative said.

Tesla announced in March it would build a large plant in the state, where it already has suppliers, in what Mexican officials described as a more than US$5 billion investment.Speaking in a video filmed at Tesla’s Shanghai factory, Garcia said Ningbo Tuopu Group was looking to begin production by the end of the year in Nuevo Leon.

The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ningbo Tuopu Group develops shock absorption products and other auto parts, while Hesai Technology makes lidar light sensors for applications like autonomous vehicles and robots.

Ningbo is expected to create some 10,000 jobs, and Hesai, up to 4,000, Nuevo Leon officials said.

Tesla has not yet begun construction in Nuevo Leon, and its timeline for starting production is unclear. Its factory in Austin, Texas, is several hours away just north of the US-Mexico border.

“We’re very happy because everything seems to indicate that the Nuevo Leon site will be twice as big, at least, as the one in Austin,” Garcia said, noting that Tesla already sources batteries, software, computers and other parts from Nuevo Leon.