To everyone’s surprise, the Tesla CEO decided to open Tesla’s engineering headquarters in Palo Alto, CA, just over a year after moving the automaker’s headquarters to Austin, Texas.
It is a warming of relations between Elon Musk and California.
It’s a bit like the return of the wunderkind.
In late 2021, the billionaire moved Tesla’s headquarters from Fremont, California, to Austin, Texas. The reason was clear: the California authorities had given in to progressive ideologies, symbolized by wakeism, which was becoming a drag on business, according to the King of Techno.
Musk had not particularly appreciated the local lockdown measures in the state, which had severely disrupted production at the Fremont factory. On April 30, 2020, Musk launched a scathing criticism of anti-COVID-19 measures, during Tesla’s first-quarter earnings call.
“I have to say that we are a bit concerned that we won’t be able to resume production in the Bay Area, and that should be identified as a serious risk,” Musk began.
Musk was not happy
“We only have two car factories right now, one in Shanghai and one in the Bay Area, and the Bay Area makes the vast majority of our cars, all of the S and X, and most of the 3 and all Y’s”.
“So the extension of the shelter in place or, frankly, I would call it, forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against their entire constitutional alliance, that is my opinion, and breaking people’s freedoms in ways that They are horrible and wrong and not why people came to America or built this country.”
On May 11, 2020, Musk defiantly said in a tweet that “Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules, I’ll be in line with everyone else. If anyone gets arrested I ask that it only be me.” .
The Fremont plant is essential to Tesla. It produces all four models of Tesla passenger cars: the Model 3 and Model Y sedans and the Model Y and Model X SUVs. It is the only plant that produces all four models. With an annual production capacity of 650,000 vehicles, Tesla saying in its fourth quarter results.
Therefore, the divorce was inevitable between Tesla and California. On December 1, 2021, the automaker announced in a regulatory document that its headquarters were now in Austin, Texas.
“On December 1, 2021, Tesla, Inc. moved its corporate headquarters to Gigafactory Texas at 13101 Harold Green Road, Austin, Texas 78725,” the firm wrote. The SEC filing was signed by Chief Financial Officer Zachary J. Kirkhorn.
Musk’s Twitter account was full of criticism of California.
Despite the fact that his other company, SpaceX, is still based in California, Musk has continued to criticize the state and its employee laws. Criticism of him grew harsher when he had to return to spend time in the state after Twitter was acquired for $44 billion in late October.
Twitter’s headquarters are in San Francisco.
California returns to Musk’s good graces
The San Francisco City Council was investigating reports that the businessman had installed beds at Twitter’s headquarters for employees who had been asked to work long hours. The billionaire, who had laid off 5,200 of Twitter’s 7,500 employees, had decided to transform certain rooms into dystopian bedrooms.
His anti-San Francisco, anti-Californian sentiment had escalated to the point that he had gone so far as to request the transfer of one of his lawsuits to Texas.
The judge refused. Against all odds, the jury found in favor of Musk, acquitting him in a trial that could have had colossal financial consequences. Investors accused Musk of lying, claiming in the summer of 2018 that he had enough funds to take Tesla private.
Since that verdict, Musk’s resentments toward California and the San Francisco area in particular appear to have dissipated. For example, he recently lamented the increase in empty offices in the city.
“Tragic. I hope SF comes back from this void. It’s such a beautiful city with so many amazing people,” the tech mogul lamented on Feb. 17.
The return of California to the heart of Musk is now more than a story of words. The billionaire just announced that Tesla will establish its “global engineering headquarters” in Palo Alto, California, a sign of cooperation between the EV maker and the EV-friendly state he once called home.
Tesla bets on California… again
“We are excited to announce that Tesla’s global engineering headquarters will be here, the former headquarters of Hewlett Packard,” Musk said alongside Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom at an event in Palo Alto on February 22. and it was streamed. Tesla’s Twitter account.
Wearing a dark suit and white shirt, the billionaire seemed visibly happy to make his announcement: “I think this is a poetic transition from the company that founded Silicon Valley to Tesla. And we’re very excited to make this our global business.” engineering headquarters in California”.
“It takes visionary leaders, it takes guts, it takes courage, it takes risks,” Newsom responded. “So I appreciate you and thank you for our partnership (in) the course (of) the last 20 years and let’s see this as the start of something even more extraordinary in the journey to dominate in this space and change the way we produce and consume energy in this space. state and this nation and the world”.
“We look forward to an exciting partnership with California to do exactly that and transition the world to sustainable energy as quickly as possible,” Musk concluded.
The two men did not provide further details about the announcement: how many jobs the measure will create or whether California will provide incentives.
Shortly after the announcement, Tesla job offers published immediately on your site for engineers whose workplace will be Palo Alto.
