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Opinion: GM’s $1B EV investment in Mexico is not what America needs

Credit: General Motors

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General Motors ‘(GM) decision to invest $1 billion for EVs in Mexico instead of the United States is not the “EV leadership” that America needs. President Biden heaped a lot of syrupy sweet praise on the automaker for “electrifying the automotive industry” although we all know it was Tesla and not GM.

The president also hyped up GM for creating only 4,000 American jobs (Tesla created over 100,000 jobs) and investing $7 billion.

GM’s $1 Billion Investment In Mexico

GM announced that it will produce its new Chevy Blazer EV in Mexico. Recently, the automaker unveiled the Chevy Blazer which will be available by Fall 2023. Earlier today, Reuters reported that GM will produce the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV at Ramos Arizpe in Mexico.

According to the article, GM will build the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV at a plant in Ramos Arizpe and that it will be ready to be sold in Mexico by the end of 2023.

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The Detroit News reported that United Auto Workers Vice President, Terry Dittes, who is head of the union’s GM Department said that this was a slap in the face to UAW and the U.S. taxpayers.

“At a time when General Motors is asking for a significant investment by the U.S. government in subsidizing electric vehicles, this is a slap in the face for not only UAW members and their families but also for U.S. taxpayers and the American workforce.”

“General Motors automobiles made in Mexico are sold in the United States and should be made right here, employing American workers,” he added. “That is why our nation is investing in these companies. Taxpayer money should not go to companies that utilize labor outside the U.S. while benefiting from American government subsidies. This is not the America any of us signed on for. Frankly, it is unseemly.”

GM Made A Mockery Of President Biden

Last year and earlier this year, President Biden made a point to ignore Tesla’s contributions to the EV space in favor of GM.

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During the State of the Union address, President Biden praised GM for investing $7 billion into EVs and for creating 4,000 new jobs in Michigan. What he didn’t mention were the over 100,000 jobs that Tesla created for Americans. He also didn’t acknowledge Tesla’s $10 billion investment in EVs either.

In fact, it took a viral petition that my friend, Gail Alfar, and I started to encourage President Biden to acknowledge Tesla’s leadership in the EV space.

President Biden Claimed GM Was The EV Leader

In November 2019, the U.S. President toured GM’s Factory Zero and said that GM: “electrified the entire automotive industry” under CEO Marry Barra’s leadership. He added that Mary Barra electrified the entire automotive industry. This is an outright lie.

“In the auto industry, Detroit is leading the world in electric vehicles. You know how critical it is? Mary, I remember talking to you way back in January about the need for America to lead in electric vehicles. I can remember your dramatic announcement that by 2035, GM would be 100% electric. You changed the whole story, Mary. You did, Mary. You electrified the entire automotive industry. I’m serious. You led, and it matters.”

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EVs, Jobs, and Lies

The idea that GM is the EV leader and is providing the most jobs in America for EVs is laughable. yet this thought was pushed by the Biden administration while trying to suppress Tesla and its actual leadership of the industry.

This hurts Tesla’s American employees. And it makes our president look foolish. Especially now that GM is going to build its newest EV in Mexico. Although $1 billion isn’t as much as the $7 billion investment, it is still investing money for EVs in Mexico and not the U.S.

In her statement to The Detroit News, U.S. Representative Debbie Dingel emphasized that EVs must be built in the U.S. and that not one American dollar should support American jobs being shipped off to Mexico.

“Electric vehicles must be built here in America by the finest workforce in the world — the American workers. Not one American dollar should support our own jobs being shipped off to Mexico — especially when we have the workers and the technology to manufacture electric vehicles ourselves.”

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“General Motors needs to reaffirm their commitment to working families now. I am focused on ensuring auto innovation and manufacturing stays in the hands of hard-working American people.”

Tesla Is The Most American-Made Vehicle

GM, in my opinion, is only making EVs because Tesla has proven that not only is it possible to mass produce them but that people want EVs. If this wasn’t the case, GM wouldn’t have crushed all of its EV1 vehicles.

If GM truly believed in EVs, there wouldn’t have been a need for Tesla to be founded. In addition to that, GM and these other automakers seem to only want to “beat Tesla.”

Tesla’s mission is completely different. Tesla is focused on accelerating the transition to sustainability.

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I admit, I tweeted the above before coffee and forgot about it until Elon Musk replied to it. The point I was making was this: it’s not fair to Americans that GM is investing even one cent into Mexico especially since the U.S. President has been hyping it up as the job creator for the EV industry.

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We all know Mexico has cheaper labor. And no offense to anyone in Mexico, but if you’re going to market yourself as an American company producing American-made EVs, then your EVs need to be American-made.

Elon Musk is right. Tesla is the most American-made vehicle. You can read more about that award here.

 

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Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge writer covering Tesla, Elon Musk, EVs, and clean energy & supports Tesla's mission. Johnna also interviewed Elon Musk and you can listen here

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Tesla is sending its humanoid Optimus robot to the Boston Marathon

Tesla’s Optimus robot is heading to the Boston Marathon finish line

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Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot will be stationed at the Tesla showroom at 888 Boylston Street in Boston, right along the final stretch of the Boston Marathon today, ready to cheer on runners and pose for photos with spectators.

According to a Tesla email shared by content creator Sawyer Merritt on X, Optimus will be at the Boston Boylston Street showroom on April 20, coinciding with Marathon Monday weekend. The Boston Marathon finishes on Boylston Street, and the surrounding area draws hundreds of thousands of spectators along with international broadcast coverage. Placing Optimus there puts it in front of a massive public audience at zero advertising cost.

The Tesla showroom is at 888 Boylston Street, between Gloucester Street and Fairfield Street. The final mile of the marathon runs directly along Boylston Street, with runners passing the big stores before reaching the finish line at Copley Square.

Optimus was first announced at Tesla’s AI Day event on August 19, 2021, when Elon Musk presented a vision for a general-purpose robot designed to take on dangerous, repetitive, and unwanted tasks. In March 2026, Optimus appeared at the Appliance and Electronics World Expo in Shanghai, where on-site staff stated that mass production of the robot could begin by the end of 2026. Before that, it showed up at the Tesla Hollywood Diner opening in July 2025 and at a Miami showroom event in December 2025.

Tesla’s well-calculated display of Optimus gives the public a low-pressure first encounter with a robot that Tesla is preparing  to soon deploy at scale. The company has previously indicated plans to manufacture Optimus robots at its Fremont facility at up to 1 million units annually, with an Optimus production line at Gigafactory Texas targeting 10 million units per year.

Tesla showcases Optimus humanoid robot at AWE 2026 in Shanghai

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Musk has said that Optimus “has the potential to be more significant than the vehicle business over time,” and separately that roughly 80 percent of Tesla’s future value will come from the robot program. Whether that holds depends on production execution. For now, Boston gets a preview of what that future looks like, standing at the finish line on Boylston Street while 32,000 runners pass by.

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Tesla expands Unsupervised Robotaxi service to two new cities

This expansion builds directly on Tesla’s existing operations. Robotaxi has been ramping unsupervised rides in Austin for months and maintains activity in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has taken a major step forward in its autonomous ride-hailing ambitions.

On April 18, the company’s official Robotaxi account announced that Robotaxi service is now rolling out in Dallas and Houston, Texas. The update signals the rapid scaling of unsupervised autonomous operations in the Lone Star State.

The announcement includes a compelling 14-second video captured from inside a Model Y. Shot from the passenger perspective, the footage shows the vehicle navigating suburban roads in both cities with zero driver intervention, with no Safety Monitor to be seen.

Tesla also shared geofence maps highlighting the initial service areas: a compact zone in Houston covering parts of Willowbrook and Jersey Village, and a similarly defined area in Dallas near Highland Park and central neighborhoods.

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This expansion builds directly on Tesla’s existing operations. Robotaxi has been ramping unsupervised rides in Austin for months and maintains activity in the San Francisco Bay Area.

With Dallas and Houston now live, Texas hosts three active hubs—an impressive concentration that triples the company’s Lone Star footprint in just weeks. The move aligns with Tesla’s Q4 2025 earnings guidance, which outlined a broader H1 2026 rollout across seven U.S. cities, including Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas.

Texas offers favorable regulations, high ride-share demand, and relatively straightforward suburban-to-urban driving patterns ideal for early autonomous scaling. While initial geofences appear modest—roughly 25 square miles per city—Tesla has historically expanded these zones quickly as it gathers real-world data.

Tesla confirms Robotaxi expansion plans with new cities and aggressive timeline

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Unsupervised operation marks a critical milestone: passengers can summon, ride, and exit without safety drivers, a leap beyond many competitors still requiring human oversight.

For Tesla, the implications are significant. Successful scaling in major metros could accelerate the transition to a fully driverless fleet, unlocking new revenue streams and validating years of Full Self-Driving investment.

Riders gain convenient, potentially lower-cost mobility, while the company edges closer to Elon Musk’s vision of Robotaxis transforming urban transport.

As Tesla pushes into more cities this year, today’s launch in Dallas and Houston underscores its momentum. Hopefully, Tesla will be able to expand unsupervised rides to another U.S. state soon, which will mark yet another chapter in this short-but-encouraging Robotaxi story.

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Tesla is pushing Robotaxi features to owner cars with Spring Update

Tesla has quietly begun rolling out one of its most forward-looking Robotaxi-inspired features to existing customer vehicles.

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Tesla is starting to push Robotaxi features to owner cars, and the first instances are coming as the Spring 2026 Update starts to roll out.

Tesla has quietly begun rolling out one of its most forward-looking Robotaxi-inspired features to existing customer vehicles.

With the 2026 Spring Update (version 2026.14+), the rear passenger display now features a fully interactive navigation map that works while the car is driving — a capability previously reserved for Tesla Robotaxi.

Until now, Tesla’s rear displays have been largely limited to media controls, climate settings, and static route overviews. The new interactive map transforms the backseat into an active navigation hub, exactly the kind of passenger-first interface Tesla has been prototyping for its driverless fleet.

In a Robotaxi, where no one sits behind the wheel, every rider will need intuitive, real-time map access. By shipping this UI into thousands of owner cars months ahead of the Cybercab’s planned unveiling, Tesla is stress-testing the software in real-world conditions and giving loyal customers an early taste of the autonomous future.

The rollout is still in its early wave. Only a small number of vehicles have received 2026.14.1 so far, but the feature is expected to expand rapidly in the coming weeks. Owners of Model S, Model X, Model 3, Model Y, and Cybertruck are all eligible.

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For buyers of the new Signature Edition Model S and X Plaid vehicles — whose deliveries begin in May — the update will likely arrive shortly after they take delivery, meaning the final chapter of Tesla’s flagship lineup will ship with cutting-edge Robotaxi preview tech baked in.

Elon Musk has long emphasized that Tesla ships supporting infrastructure well before new products launch. This rear-map rollout is a textbook example of that philosophy — quietly preparing both the software and the customer base for a world of fully driverless rides.

While the interactive map may seem like a modest convenience upgrade on the surface, its deeper purpose is unmistakable. Tesla is using its massive installed base of vehicles as a proving ground for the exact passenger experience that will define the Robotaxi era.

For current owners, it’s a free preview of tomorrow’s mobility; for the company, it’s invaluable data and real-world validation before the Cybercab hits the streets.

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