Tesla plans 6,000 jobs in Mexico and eyeing more investment, government says

Mexico's government said on Tuesday Tesla had chosen the northern state of Nuevo Leon for a first Mexican factory worth more than $5 billion, and Tesla boss Elon Musk is expected to give details in an Investors Day presentation on Wednesday.

"(Musk) is interested in investing more in Mexico," Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said, noting the two had discussed the government's plans to develop the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico when they talked recently.

Speaking at a news conference, Lopez Obrador said he had invited Musk to visit and would like him to tour the northern state of Sonora, where the government is building a massive solar energy park and pushing for state-run lithium production.

"I told him lithium has been nationalized, but that doesn't mean we can't come to an agreement," he said.

Tesla selected Nuevo Leon for its plant due to the border state's proximity to the company's headquarters in Austin, Texas, said Martha Delgado, a deputy foreign minister.

"It's six hours away. This closeness was very good for them," she told Mexican television.

The factory will employ 5,000 to 6,000 people, she added, noting that similar Tesla plants elsewhere employ as many as 10,000 people.

The company had also scouted sites in the central states of Hidalgo, Queretaro and Puebla, areas that could still be options for electric battery production, Delgado said.

"We're working with them on a portfolio of investments," she said.