Brexit Uncertainty Prevents Tesla From Building New Gigafactory in the UK

Just days after Elon Musk announced Berlin will be home to Tesla's fourth Gigafactory, he's making waves again. 

Musk told Auto Express he passed on the UK because of turmoil over Brexit.

"Brexit made it too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK,” Musk said in the report. 

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The UK could use a win 

The comments come at an awkward time for Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the UK. He's gearing up to introduce a new clean energy plan. It includes the prime minister making a speech to be broadcast live at an electric car plant. 

Musk revealed the location of its European manufacturing facility when receiving a Golden Steering Wheel Award at a ceremony in Germany.

?♥️? GIGA BERLIN ?♥️?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 12, 2019

Without providing much in the way of details, the Tesla CEO said it will be in the Berlin area, near the airport. The company also plans to open an engineering and design center in Berlin.  “Everyone knows that German engineering is outstanding and that’s part of the reason we’re locating our gigafactory Europe in Germany,” Musk said according to reports.

Tesla expands manufacturing around the globe

Musk choice of Berlin was a blow to cities around Europe that had been pulling out all the stops. But it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. The Tesla executive said last year Germany was on the shortlist.

The European Gigafactory is part of Tesla's strategy to expand its business internationally. Cars have just started rolling off the line in its Shanghai Gigafacotry, which was completed ahead of schedule. It also just received approval from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to begin mass production of its vehicles in the country. Tesla also has its operations in Buffalo, New York, near Reno, Nevada and Fremont, California all churning out Tesla vehicles.