The potential investment of $10 billion by electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc. in Mexico has been "politicized" by the President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), according to Mexican press reports.
Media reports had previously speculated that a new $10 billionTesla plant, which would generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the country, could be located in Nuevo León. However, López Obrador said earlier this week that the investment would not be located in that state because it "has problems due to lack of water."
"If Tesla's executives listened to President López Obrador on Monday, perhaps they would reconsider the possibility of investing in Mexico," Enrique Quintana, one of the most respected financial journalists in the country, published today in the newspaper El Financiero.
Following López Obrador’s statement, the Vanguardia newspaper published an article headlined: "AMLO makes Nuevo León 'ugly' for a Tesla plant due to water shortages and suggests the southeast."
The newspaper El Economista published "Tesla and plan B, the presidential imposition", El Heraldo de México published "The ´rebatinga´ (some kind of outburst) by Tesla and that ugly mania of the 4T (AMLO government) of leveling downwards." The Spanish newspaper El País published "López Obrador disputes with Samuel García (governor of Nuevo León) the arrival of Tesla in Nuevo León: "There is no water, in the southeast yes."
Meanwhile, Forbes Mexico magazine published "Nuevo León is not an option for Tesla due to lack of water, says AMLO." The Infobae news portal published: "The reasons why AMLO could scare off Tesla's investment from billionaire Elon Musk."
Separately, today the think tank IMCO (Mexican Institute for Competitiveness) said that Tesla in Nuevo León would consume 0.01 percent of the total volume of water available in the state.
The investment of an investment project like the Tesla requires many authorizations from the federal government. In this sense, Quintana pointed out "If Tesla goes to Nuevo León, he will have the President of the Republic against him, he will most likely go to another country."