Elon Musk Is Setting Tesla’s Sights On France, Italy And India

As Tesla stock continues its non-stop rally higher, Elon Musk has been busy working on expanding Tesla’s global footprint and goodwill over the last several weeks.

This week it was first reported that the EV maker could wind up erecting its next Gigafactory in France, with Car and Driver reporting that Musk “has been spending time in Europe this month as the electric automaker is searching for a place to build another Gigafactory in the EU”.

Musk met not only with French president Emmanuel Macron for the second time in a month, he also spent time with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni.

France’s digital minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, told CNBC: “It will be great to have a Tesla factory in France, there has been a lot of effort and energy to make sure this is possible, and this can happen. We have also invested in an . . . entire sector of electric batteries, so we will try to convince him that France is the best possible place in Europe to establish the next Tesla factory.”

Musk also traveled to Rome to meet with Meloni. CNBC reported that Musk and the Prime Minister talked about “innovation, opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence, European market regulations, and birth rates.”

Finally Musk said on Tuesday of this week that Tesla would soon be investing in India, a populous up and coming EV market. 

Nikkei Asia reported Musk as saying “I am confident that Tesla will be in India, and will do so as soon as humanly possible” after meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York.

The Tesla CEO added: “[Modi] really cares about India because he’s pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something we intend to do. We are just trying to figure out the right timing.”

“We had multifaceted conversations on issues ranging from energy to spirituality,” Modi commented. 

Musk’s Tesla has chalked up several wins over the last few weeks, not the least of which being major auto manufacturers Ford and General Motors agreeing to adopt Tesla’s EV charging standards at their own. Rivian followed suit this week. 

As we noted this week, NACS fever is sweeping the EV world as it appears this is a big win for Tesla as the Biden administration pushes to expand US’ EV charging network nationwide. The only problem is with more EVs accessing Tesla’s Supercharging network. This might result in higher charging prices and longer lines. 

Stockholders don’t seem to be concerned, as Tesla stock has posted a nearly two week non stop rally that has seen the company’s share price explode higher from lows near $175 to current levels near $275 in just under the span of a month.