It was a little more than a month ago that Toyota shuttered its NUMMI plant in Fremont laying off thousands of workers.
Well, not shuttered for long as Tesla Motors and Toyota have partnered to manufacture the Tesla Model S a the Plant
In a stunning deal, Tesla Motors announced late Thursday that it is teaming up with Toyota to build its all-electric Model S sedan at the recently shuttered NUMMI plant in Fremont, creating more than 1,000 new jobs.
The pact, put together in utter secrecy, immediately injects new life into an auto plant once left for dead, is a jolt of positive news for beleaguered Toyota and elevates Silicon Valley's role at the heart of the emerging electric car industry.
Under the agreement, Toyota, the world's largest automaker, will invest $50 million in Tesla, which will buy the NUMMI plant for an undisclosed sum. The joint venture was unveiled by Akio Toyoda, Toyota's CEO, who flew in from Japan for the announcement,
The plant will produce 20,000 electric cars a year. And the car is a stunner (although not cheap at $50,000)
Model S
The cars description:
With a range up to 300 miles and 45-minute QuickCharge, the Model S can carry five adults and two children in quiet comfort – and you can charge it from any outlet, without ever stopping for gas. World’s first mass-produced electric vehicle offers performance, efficiency and unrivaled utility for a base price of $49,900*, making it the only car you’ll ever need.
The Fremont plant has much greater capacity and the hope is that even more electric models will be built there.
"Long term, we think we could create 10,000 jobs, half from Tesla and half from our suppliers," [Tesla CEO Elon] Musk said.
Of course Tesla is well known for their innovative all-electric (and, yes, expensive) Roadster.
Not everyone is happy. Downy, CA officials are understandably miffed:
Among those not cheering were officials in the city of Downey in Los Angeles County. For months, they had been working with Tesla in hopes that the automaker would locate its factory there. The Downey City Council was hours away from voting on the terms of a lease for Tesla. Tesla executives finally told Downey city officials that they were going to Fremont instead on Thursday afternoon, catching staffers who have spent hundreds of hours on the nearly final deal completely by surprise.
"We're shocked, appalled and disgusted," said Downey Councilman Mario Guerra. "We have been dealing in good faith with Tesla and feel stabbed in the back."
Still, this is cool and exciting news and if I had the resources I would snap up one of those Sedans in 2012.