Tesla is building a new factory in Texas, CEO Elon Musk announced on its second quarter earnings call.
The new Gigafactory will be based outside of Austin, “5 minutes from Austin International Airport and 15 minutes from downtown Austin,” Musk said. Tesla shares were up 5.7% in after hours trading after the carmaker reported its fourth straight quarter of positive GAAP earnings, clearing a major hurdle for possible inclusion in the S&P 500 index.
The Texas factory wasn’t a big surprise, given recent news that Travis County, where Austin is located, approved tax breaks worth at least $14.7 million in exchange for employing thousands near the plant.
Musk described the future factory as an “ecological paradise” near the Colorado river and said it will be open to the public. Construction of the facility is already in progress, he said.
The Texas site is initially intended to build Model 3 and Model Y vehicles for the eastern half of the U.S. Tesla’s main Fremont, Calif. factory will continue to build Model S and Model X vehicles “for worldwide consumption,” and Models 3 and Y for the western half of the U.S.
For the second quarter, the electric carmaker posted sales of $6.04 billion and GAAP earnings per share of 50 cents, beating consensus estimates of $5.15 billion in sales and a GAAP loss of 82 cents per share.
Tesla did not lower its original delivery projections for the full year, despite COVID-related manufacturing disruptions, writing that it has “the capacity installed to exceed 500,000 vehicle deliveries this year.”
Tesla also noted that the production ramp-up at its Shanghai factory is progressing as planned, and that it expects to deliver Model Y units built in the facility next year. Construction of its Berlin-Brandenburg factory “continues to progress,” Tesla said.