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Land for Lucid Motors Arizona factory will reportedly be paid by tax payers
Officials in Pinal County, Arizona are considering ways to raise the money needed to purchase 500 acres of land near the city of Casa Grande where Lucid Motors intends to build its $700 million electric car factory. The proposed manufacturing facility was the subject of a high profile press event earlier this month that featured Arizona governor Doug Ducey. All parties acknowledge Ducey was a key player in landing the project for the state of Arizona.
There is only one problem with the deal — the taxpayers of Arizona are expected to pay for the purchase of the land and contribute a significant amount of money to help it get the factory built and operational. When and if everything goes as planned, the factory is expected to create 2,000 jobs in an area where many are unemployed or underemployed.
The land itself will cost $31.8 million, Financing the purchase over 30 years will add another $41.6 million, but Pinal County spokesperson Joe Pyritz says the plan is to lease the land after is is purchased (presumably to Lucid Motors, although the county is not allowed to say so for the record) and then sell it at the end of 5 years. That arrangement would cap the total cost of the deal at $35 million. The sale price is expected to equal the total outlay made by the county for principal and interest.
However, first someone has to actually buy the land. County supervisors will meet in January to consider how to do that. The leading proposal is to finance the purchase by raising property taxes or imposing a countywide sales tax surcharge. Pyritz says if the supervisors decide on a tax increase, the new tax would only cover the land deal and would end once the tax funding reimburses the county for the purchase cost.
Lucid will get other sweeteners to bring its business to Pinal County. The project involves what the Phoenix New Times calls “a significant amount of corporate welfare.” Lucid Motors will be eligible for up to $46.5 million in various subsidies offered by the state through the Arizona Commerce Authority over the next five years. Those subsidies will be coupled with certain performance targets.
The subsidies include:
- $5 million in grant money over five years, dependent on meeting specified job-creation and capital-investment milestones.
- $1.5 million in grant money for job training. The company would pay for the cost of training employees and the state would reimburse 75 percent of the cost over two years.
- $40 million in refundable tax credits under the Qualified Facility Tax Credit Program the legislature created in 2012.
Susan Marie, spokeswoman for the Arizona Commerce Authority is quick to point out that the total amount is far less than the $335 million in tax credits promised to Faraday Future or the $1.3 billion in similar credits promised to Tesla Motors by the state of Nevada.
Lucid revealed its 1,000 horsepower proposed production car — the Lucid Air — last week. The 4 door sedan is said to have up to a 135 kWh battery capacity and capable of driving 400 miles per single charge. The result is something that tops Tesla’s flagship Model S P100D and by a considerable margin. Does that mean Lucid will win customers away from Tesla?
That’s unlikely. Granted that Lucid may have an edge in some areas, it lacks a charging infrastructure. Without something comparable to Tesla’s Supercharger network while having no brand recognition, peeling customers away from Tesla will be a lot harder than just offering a larger battery. But first, Lucid needs to build a factory. That first step is far from guaranteed despite lofty promises form the company.
In a groundbreaking new report from Reuters, SpaceX is reportedly discussing merger possibilities with xAI ahead of the space exploration company’s plans to IPO later this year, in what would be a blockbuster move.
The outlet said it would combine rockets and Starlink satellites, as well as the X social media platform and AI project Grok under one roof. The report cites “a person briefed on the matter and two recent company filings seen by Reuters.”
Musk, nor SpaceX or xAI, have commented on the report, so, as of now, it is unconfirmed.
With that being said, the proposed merger would bring shares of xAI in exchange for shares of SpaceX. Both companies were registered in Nevada to expedite the transaction, according to the report.
On January 21, both entities were registered in Nevada. The report continues:
“One of them, a limited liability company, lists SpaceX and Bret Johnsen, the company’s chief financial officer, as managing members, while the other lists Johnsen as the company’s only officer, the filings show.”
The source also stated that some xAI executives could be given the option to receive cash in lieu of SpaceX stock. No agreement has been reached, nothing has been signed, and the timing and structure, as well as other important details, have not been finalized.
SpaceX is valued at $800 billion and is the most valuable privately held company, while xAI is valued at $230 billion as of November. SpaceX could be going public later this year, as Musk has said as recently as December that the company would offer its stock publicly.
The plans could help move along plans for large-scale data centers in space, something Musk has discussed on several occasions over the past few months.
At the World Economic Forum last week, Musk said:
“It’s a no-brainer for building solar-powered AI data centers in space, because as I mentioned, it’s also very cold in space. The net effect is that the lowest cost place to put AI will be space and that will be true within two to three years, three at the latest.”
He also said on X that “the most important thing in the next 3-4 years is data centers in space.”
If the report is true and the two companies end up coming together, it would not be the first time Musk’s companies have ended up coming together. He used Tesla stock to purchase SolarCity back in 2016. Last year, X became part of xAI in a share swap.
Tesla has announced it has hit a major milestone with Full Self-Driving subscriptions, shortly after it said it would exclusively offer the suite without the option to purchase it outright.
Tesla announced on Wednesday during its Q4 Earnings Call for 2025 that it had officially eclipsed the one million subscription mark for its Full Self-Driving suite. This represented a 38 percent increase year-over-year.
This is up from the roughly 800,000 active subscriptions it reported last year. The company has seen significant increases in FSD adoption over the past few years, as in 2021, it reported just 400,000. In 2022, it was up to 500,000 and, one year later, it had eclipsed 600,000.
NEWS: For the first time, Tesla has revealed how many people are subscribed or have purchased FSD (Supervised).
Active FSD Subscriptions:
• 2025: 1.1 million
• 2024: 800K
• 2023: 600K
• 2022: 500K
• 2021: 400K pic.twitter.com/KVtnyANWcs— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) January 28, 2026
In mid-January, CEO Elon Musk announced that the company would transition away from giving the option to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright, opting for the subscription program exclusively.
Musk said on X:
“Tesla will stop selling FSD after Feb 14. FSD will only be available as a monthly subscription thereafter.”
The move intends to streamline the Full Self-Driving purchase option, and gives Tesla more control over its revenue, and closes off the ability to buy it outright for a bargain when Musk has said its value could be close to $100,000 when it reaches full autonomy.
It also caters to Musk’s newest compensation package. One tranche requires Tesla to achieve 10 million active FSD subscriptions, and now that it has reached one million, it is already seeing some growth.
The strategy that Tesla will use to achieve this lofty goal is still under wraps. The most ideal solution would be to offer a less expensive version of the suite, which is not likely considering the company is increasing its capabilities, and it is becoming more robust.
Tesla is shifting FSD to a subscription-only model, confirms Elon Musk
Currently, Tesla’s FSD subscription price is $99 per month, but Musk said this price will increase, which seems counterintuitive to its goal of increasing the take rate. With that being said, it will be interesting to see what Tesla does to navigate growth while offering a robust FSD suite.
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Tesla confirms Robotaxi expansion plans with new cities and aggressive timeline
Tesla plans to launch in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas. It lists the Bay Area as “Safety Driver,” and Austin as “Ramping Unsupervised.”
Tesla confirmed its intentions to expand the Robotaxi program in the United States with an aggressive timeline that aims to send the ride-hailing service to several large cities very soon.
The Robotaxi program is currently active in Austin, Texas, and the California Bay Area, but Tesla has received some approvals for testing in other areas of the U.S., although it has not launched in those areas quite yet.
However, the time is coming.
During Tesla’s Q4 Earnings Call last night, the company confirmed that it plans to expand the Robotaxi program aggressively, hoping to launch in seven new cities in the first half of the year.
Tesla plans to launch in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas. It lists the Bay Area as “Safety Driver,” and Austin as “Ramping Unsupervised.”
These details were released in the Earnings Shareholder Deck, which is published shortly before the Earnings Call:
🚨 BREAKING: Tesla plans to launch its Robotaxi service in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas in the first half of this year pic.twitter.com/aTnruz818v
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 28, 2026
Late last year, Tesla revealed it had planned to launch Robotaxi in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston, but Tampa and Orlando were just added to the plans, signaling an even more aggressive expansion than originally planned.
Tesla feels extremely confident in its Robotaxi program, and that has been reiterated many times.
Although skeptics still remain hesitant to believe the prowess Tesla has seemingly proven in its development of an autonomous driving suite, the company has been operating a successful program in Austin and the Bay Area for months.
In fact, it announced it achieved nearly 700,000 paid Robotaxi miles since launching Robotaxi last June.
🚨 Tesla has achieved nearly 700,000 paid Robotaxi miles since launching in June of last year pic.twitter.com/E8ldSW36La
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 28, 2026
With the expansion, Tesla will be able to penetrate more of the ride-sharing market, disrupting the human-operated platforms like Uber and Lyft, which are usually more expensive and are dependent on availability.
Tesla launched driverless rides in Austin last week, but they’ve been few and far between, as the company is certainly easing into the program with a very cautiously optimistic attitude, aiming to prioritize safety.
SpaceX reportedly discussing merger with xAI ahead of blockbuster IPO
Tesla hits major milestone with Full Self-Driving subscriptions
