Tesla is, according to CNET News, the new American car maker that will start producing models at a manufacturing plant in California. The new factory will be located at the former NUMMI assembly plant in Fremont, California, which had been jointly owned by GM and Toyota.
The creation of a new car manufacturer in America is a rare event these days as there aren’t many producers in California except for General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. Tesla Motors has been present on the American market for some time with electric cars. The new manufacturing base will help contribute to the popularity of the company and will increase its sales percentage.
According to Tesla representatives, the factory will receive raw materials that will later on, take the shape of a Model S, for instance. Most Tesla cars today are produced in Menlo Park and Hethel, U.K, but the production line will soon be moved to California. Further changes will be enacted once the factory is open.
Given that the tooling of the factory is not yet complete, the production numbers will be rather small this year. According to the estimates of the company, there will be only 5,000 cars produced in 2012. Next year, however, the production will ramp up to 20,000 units.
Tesla Motors is full of surprises; the company has further communicated that the headquarters of the factory will be located in one of the most unusual places for a car manufacturer, that is, Palo Alto, California. Silicon Valley is known as the district of the biggest IT corporations; therefore, Tesla’s decision to place the factory within this area surprises analysts.
This change might be benefic for the new American manufacturer because producers can better understand what consumer electronics technologies could work well in a car. The company has already made efforts to provide its new Model S with some of the latest features. The car is provided with a 17-inch display powered by an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor placed right on the dashboard.
The base model produced in California has a 40kWh battery pack and costs $49,900. There are two other models: the 60kWh model which costs $59,900 and the 85kWh one which is almost $70,000.
