Elon Musk denies Tesla in talks with Saudis for EV factory

Elon Musk denied a report that Tesla is in talks with Saudi Arabia to build an electric vehicle factory in the Middle Eastern kingdom.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the electric vehicle company is in early talks with the Saudis about building a manufacturing facility, citing unnamed “people familiar with the discussions.”

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Musk took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to respond to the report. “Yet another utterly false article from WSJ,” said the tech mogul, who has launched a number of criticisms toward the media at large.

The alleged talks don’t come out of thin air, according to the report, and they are part of an “ambitious push by the kingdom to secure metals needed for electric vehicles and help diversify its economy away from oil.”

Saudi Arabia has been “wooing” Tesla by leveraging the right to purchase rare materials needed to make electric vehicles from Congo, according to the report. Congo currently supplies approximately 70% of the world’s cobalt.

Musk has had a fractured relationship with Saudi Arabia, which would have made a partnership between his companies and the oil-rich country a shock to many.

In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Musk for making allegedly fraudulent statements on Twitter about having the “funding secured” to take Tesla private. Musk made those comments based on a meeting with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which previously invested $2 billion in Tesla, and was found not liable for those posts.

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The same year, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund invested $1 billion into Tesla’s rival electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid, which is operated by a former Tesla executive. The fund now owns 60% of Lucid stake, and the company is set to open its own plant in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is also planning to start its own electric vehicle company called Greer, creating even more competition for Tesla in the electric vehicle market.