Electric carmaker Tesla could soon be making cars in a former space shuttle plant in the Los Angeles area.
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The Downey City Council is expected to vote soon on an agreement that could clear the way for Tesla build a factory on the site once operated by a succession of aerospace companies including Vultee, Boeing and Rockwell, the Los Angeles Times (LAT) said.
Mayor Mario Guerra told the paper that the city was close to finalising a deal that potentially would bring car manufacturing back to Southern California for the first time in nearly 20 years.
The plant would employ 1,200 to 1,500 workers, he said, and be on an 80-acre site currently used by Downey Studios for film and television production. Years earlier, it was used by Rockwell International, and later Boeing , to build spacecraft.
A lease deal with Industrial Realty Group, which operates Downey Studios, is in progress, Guerra said.
Tesla, which makes an electric roadster with help from Lotus here in the UK, has been looking for a location to build its next vehicle, an all-electric sedan called the Model S, for several years.
In June, it was awarded US$465m in low-cost loans from the Energy Department to finance production of the Model S, which is slated to have a retail price of $57,400 and get up to 300 miles on a charge.
The company has said it would build its plant in Southern California, but Tesla spokesman Ricardo Reyes would not confirm to the LAT whether it had chosen Downey.
“We’ve been in discussions with other cities” as well, Reyes said. Tesla also has reportedly looked at using an old Boeing (previously McDonell Douglas) factory in Long Beach.
The automaker previously abandoned plans to open factories in San Jose and Albuquerque, leading industry experts to question whether the Downey deal was a sure thing, the paper said.
Cars have not been made in California since 1992 when General Motors closed its Van Nuys plant north of Los Angeles.
