The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, quoting informed sources, that Saudi Arabia is in early-stage discussions with the American electric car manufacturer, Tesla, for the establishment of a factory within the Kingdom.
This revelation comes mere hours after Turkey’s Presidential Communications Directorate announced that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had approached Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, with a proposal to erect a factory in Turkey. Further intensifying Musk’s international engagements, the CEO is also scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in California on Monday.
Highlighting potential incentives, the report mentioned Saudi Arabia’s efforts to entice Tesla by offering preferential access to specific volumes of minerals and metals, including sourcing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Keen to diversify its oil-reliant economy, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is currently the largest investor in Lucid Group, an emerging electric car company poised to challenge Tesla’s dominance in the sector.
Wall Street Journal’s coverage also touched on a proposal being considered by the Kingdom. It involves offering financing to commodity trading giant, Trafigura, for a stalled cobalt and copper project in Congo, which could assist in supplying the potential Tesla factory with vital resources. A spokesperson for Trafigura confirmed the company is reassessing its options for the Mutoshi project in Congo, given the rising costs and ongoing decline in cobalt prices, as per Reuters.
Musk, earlier in May, had hinted that Tesla might decide on a location for a new factory by the end of 2023. Currently, Tesla operates six factories, with the seventh under construction in Mexico, reflecting its ambitions to amplify its global footprint. The company aims to elevate its sales from approximately 1.3 million vehicles in 2022 to an ambitious 20 million vehicles annually by 2030.
