Tesla has announced it will relocate its corporate headquarters from California to Texas, as confirmed by chief executive Elon Musk at the electric carmaker's annual shareholders' meeting in Austin.
Mr Musk cited several reasons for the move, including the cramped conditions at its Fremont factory in California and the difficulty employees face in finding affordable housing in the Bay Area. 'There's a limit to how big you can scale it in the Bay Area,' he told shareholders, noting that in Austin the factory is close to the airport and downtown.
The decision follows a fractious relationship between Mr Musk and local politicians in Alameda County over Covid-19 restrictions. In May, he threatened to move the company after being ordered to keep the Fremont plant closed, tweeting that Tesla would move its headquarters and future programmes to Texas or Nevada immediately.
Despite the headquarters move, Mr Musk said Tesla plans to increase output from its California and Nevada factories by 50%, emphasising that 'this is not a matter of, sort of, Tesla leaving California'.
Tesla joins a growing list of companies moving to Texas, including Oracle, HP and Toyota, attracted by lower labour costs, less stringent regulation and lower taxes compared to California.
Mr Musk relocated his home to Texas at the end of 2020 to focus on Tesla's new manufacturing plant there, and his SpaceX rocket company already has a launch site in the southern tip of the state.
