Tesla reportedly negotiating incentives for Texas auto assembly plant

Electric automaker Tesla Inc is negotiating possible incentives with a Texas county that could make way for a new auto assembly plant to the region near Austin, the state capital, the Austin American-Statesman reported on Monday.

Travis County Commissioners Court is set to talk about the terms of the deal on Tuesday, the paper reported, mentioning people with information about the situation. A vote is expected in the near future.

The paper said it was not clear if negotiations with Travis County indicate that the automaker has picked the Austin region as the site for the auto plant, which would build the automaker’s electric pickup truck and Model Y SUV and hire thousands of people, or if the company is also negotiating with authorities in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, has tweeted before about the possibility of bringing a plant to Texas. Oklahoma also has been cited as a possible site.

Travis County officials refused to comment, and a spokesman for the Texas governor’s office has also made no comments.

Last month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated he had talked with Musk about a potential plant.

Abbott’s comments came three days after Musk had threatened to shift Tesla’s headquarters and future operations to Texas or Nevada after officials in California’s Alameda County, where Tesla’s only U.S. auto assembly plant is situated, said the plant could not yet resume because of the spread of coronavirus and related lockdown measures. The plant has since resumed.

Officials with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, which represents hourly workers at General Motors’s assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, stated they believe a Tuesday county meeting will also discuss a possible deal. The union, which has unsuccessfully attempted organizing Tesla’s Fremont, California, plant, called on Texas officials to obtain assurances from the automaker regarding any possible jobs.