A small sentence, like a bottle thrown into the sea. On the sidelines of the Choose France summit organized at the Palace of Versailles, Elon Musk relaunched the idea of setting up Telsa in France on Monday. The businessman said he was “confident” that his brand of electric cars “will make significant investments in the country in the future. Without giving further details.
When ? How ? All speculation is now permitted. Like in 2016 when the billionaire had already made headlight calls, without giving a follow-up. “It’s free speculation, but maybe we could set up a factory in Alsace,” he said while traveling in Paris. Enough to provoke a vast lobby on the banks of the Rhine…
“It was so funny what happened, something sick! “recalls Vincent Froehlicher, already managing director of Adira, the (economic) development agency of Alsace. Who had therefore done everything to seduce the American. “When we were made aware of his exit, we first tried to reach him by the traditional circuits but it was impossible. So we had launched several tricks to attract his attention, with geek means. From the time eh! »
A communication agency had thus been asked to produce… a clip. This short 1’44 video is still available on YouTube and we can see a Tesla wandering on the roads and some nice spots in the region. All with space conquest music and a soundtrack by Elon Musk himself that details his dreams. All soberly titled: “Alsace is ready for Tesla”!
A cork sent to the United States
“We had met the boss of Tesla France who had assured us that he had seen this video”, smiles Vincent Froehlicher, recalling other initiatives of this lobbying. “We had created the domain name tesla.alsace and I remember that Jean Rottner, then mayor of Mulhouse, had sent him a cap from a prestigious Bugatti car. That, I don’t know if he had! »
Still, no Telsa team then approached Alsace. “We had never had a real meeting or discussion. But we just knew that they were looking for 180 hectares of land for their factory and was going to create thousands of jobs, “says the general manager of Adira, who is therefore wary of the latest release dated unpredictable billionaire. “Significant investments, I don’t know what that means. »
Jean-Luc Heimburger neither. The president of the Alsace Eurometropolis Chamber of Commerce and Industry had followed the first episode from afar but still remembers it. “We had made him belly dance so now, scalded cat fears cold water”, he says, repeating not being “aware of anything”.
“A very interesting European positioning”
This does not prevent it, however, from opening the door wide to the arrival of the American giant. “We would have to see what exactly it is, if it’s not just a robot factory… But it could be an opportunity with jobs on the line and Alsace is always a welcoming land. There is a significant industrial fabric in the Upper Rhine, universities, engineering schools and soon an electric battery factory. It would make sense… In addition, we have a very interesting European positioning. Berlin (where the Telsa Gigafactory is located) is a little out of the way for certain Western European markets. »
All that remains is to find some 180 hectares in the region if the specifications remain the same. “We don’t have them today,” replies Vincent Froelicher. “But if tomorrow, Invest Eastern France, which is responsible for economic attractiveness in the Grand-Est region, is approached by Telsa, we will be happy to make a proposal. If Elon Musk returns, we will study the file! It’s up to him to take the first step this time.