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Tesla Gigafactory UK? Elon Musk’s quick stop in England drives rumors

Tesla factory in Tilburg, Netherlands. (Credit: Tesla)

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Rumors of a Tesla Gigafactory in the United Kingdom are surging after a brief visit from CEO Elon Musk in Luton, a town in South East England. Musk made the visit on his way to Germany, where he was set to visit Tesla’s Giga Berlin production facility.

Earlier this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk visited Giga Berlin, but he stopped in the UK for a short time, according to his plane tracker. Musk landed at London Luton Airport on May 14th and stayed for two days before loading back up into his Gulfstream G650 and heading off to Berlin Brandenburg Airport on Sunday.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk receives rockstar welcome in first visit to Giga Berlin

Questions surfaced about the reason for Musk’s two-day stay in the UK, and it may have something to do with a potential UK Gigafactory that could help supplement European demand for Tesla’s electric cars. According to a report from The Telegraph, regional authorities in Teesside and the West Midlands were given 48 hours to prepare a 250-hectare site. The report stated that the entities in control of the land were not informed of who or what was visiting the land or what company would potentially bid on the land that they had prepared.

The communications to the landowners, along with the rest of the process, were set up by the newly-formed Office for Investment, a government office that handles discussions between private foreign investors and the public sector.

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Speculation regarding a potential Tesla Gigafactory in the UK started last year in May when a Department for International Trade (DIT) in the UK was leading a search for a plot of land that was big enough to house a large-scale electric vehicle manufacturing facility. A spokesperson for the DIT indicated that it was “working closely with partners to scope out sites for new investment into electric vehicle research, development, and manufacturing across the UK.”

According to the May 2020 report, one business park in Somerset, a county in South West England, attempted to lure Tesla to its 650-acre site, which is slightly smaller than the 740-acre Giga Berlin property, comfortably bigger than Tesla’s Fremont Factory that sits on only 370 acres. Earlier this year, Minister of State for Business Kwasi Kwarteng offered his support for the potential Tesla facility. Kwarteng said that Somerset has the “manufacturing skill and competence to be able to sustain an excellent Gigafactory.”

Neither Tesla nor its CEO Elon Musk has commented on the potential for the UK Gigafactory, nor is it confirmed that either entity is planning to purchase land for a new factory in the region.

Currently, Tesla has five Gigafactories; three of them are currently active: Gigafactory Nevada, Gigafactory Buffalo, and Gigafactory Shanghai are currently active. Gigafactory Berlin and Gigafactory Texas are still under construction, and plans for a new Gigafactory in India have also circulated for the past few months.

Europe is one of the largest markets for electric vehicles, and Tesla could handle demand without issue if it had two Gigafactory facilities in the region. As electric vehicles take off in popularity, Tesla leads the charge globally and plans to expand its already impressive lineup of production facilities will only accelerate the transition to electrification.

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What do you think? Let us know in the comments below, or you can email me at joey@teslarati.com or Tweet me @KlenderJoey.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla analysts believe Musk and Trump feud will pass

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump’s feud shall pass, several bulls say.

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The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
President Donald J. Trump purchases a Tesla on the South Lawn, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)

Tesla analysts are breaking down the current feud between CEO Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump, as the two continue to disagree on the “Big Beautiful Bill” and its impact on the country’s national debt.

Musk, who headed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump Administration, left his post in May. Soon thereafter, he and President Trump entered a very public and verbal disagreement, where things turned sour. They reconciled to an extent, and things seemed to be in the past.

However, the second disagreement between the two started on Monday, as Musk continued to push back on the “Big Beautiful Bill” that the Trump administration is attempting to sign into law. It would, by Musk’s estimation, increase spending and reverse the work DOGE did to trim the deficit.

President Trump has hinted that DOGE could be “the monster” that “eats Elon,” threatening to end the subsidies that SpaceX and Tesla receive. Musk has not been opposed to ending government subsidies for companies, including his own, as long as they are all abolished.

How Tesla could benefit from the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ that axes EV subsidies

Despite this contentious back-and-forth between the two, analysts are sharing their opinions now, and a few of the more bullish Tesla observers are convinced that this feud will pass, Trump and Musk will resolve their differences as they have before, and things will return to normal.

ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood said this morning that the feud between Musk and Trump is another example of “this too shall pass:”

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Additionally, Wedbush’s Dan Ives, in a note to investors this morning, said that the situation “will settle:”

“We believe this situation will settle and at the end of the day Musk needs Trump and Trump needs Musk given the AI Arms Race going on between the US and China. The jabs between Musk and Trump will continue as the Budget rolls through Congress but Tesla investors want Musk to focus on driving Tesla and stop this political angle…which has turned into a life of its own in a roller coaster ride since the November elections.”

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Tesla shares are down about 5 percent at 3:10 p.m. on the East Coast.

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Tesla scrambles after Musk sidekick exit, CEO takes over sales

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is reportedly overseeing sales in North America and Europe, Bloomberg reports.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla scrambled its executives around following the exit of CEO Elon Musk’s sidekick last week, Omead Afshar. Afshar was relieved of his duties as Head of Sales for both North America and Europe.

Bloomberg is reporting that Musk is now overseeing both regions for sales, according to sources familiar with the matter. Afshar left the company last week, likely due to slow sales in both markets, ending a seven-year term with the electric automaker.

Tesla’s Omead Afshar, known as Elon Musk’s right-hand man, leaves company: reports

Afshar was promoted to the role late last year as Musk was becoming more involved in the road to the White House with President Donald Trump.

Afshar, whose LinkedIn account stated he was working within the “Office of the CEO,” was known as Musk’s right-hand man for years.

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Additionally, Tom Zhu, currently the Senior Vice President of Automotive at Tesla, will oversee sales in Asia, according to the report.

It is a scramble by Tesla to get the company’s proven executives over the pain points the automaker has found halfway through the year. Sales are looking to be close to the 1.8 million vehicles the company delivered in both of the past two years.

Tesla is pivoting to pay more attention to the struggling automotive sales that it has felt over the past six months. Although it is still performing well and is the best-selling EV maker by a long way, it is struggling to find growth despite redesigning its vehicles and launching new tech and improvements within them.

The company is also looking to focus more on its deployment of autonomous tech, especially as it recently launched its Robotaxi platform in Austin just over a week ago.

Tesla officially launches Robotaxi service with no driver

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However, while this is the long-term catalyst for Tesla, sales still need some work, and it appears the company’s strategy is to put its biggest guns on its biggest problems.

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Tesla upgrades Model 3 and Model Y in China, hikes price for long-range sedan

Tesla’s long-range Model 3 now comes with a higher CLTC-rated range of 753 km (468 miles).

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Credit: Tesla China

Tesla has rolled out a series of quiet upgrades to its Model 3 and Model Y in China, enhancing range and performance for long-range variants. The updates come with a price hike for the Model 3 Long Range All-Wheel Drive, which now costs RMB 285,500 (about $39,300), up RMB 10,000 ($1,400) from the previous price.

Model 3 gets acceleration boost, extended range

Tesla’s long-range Model 3 now comes with a higher CLTC-rated range of 753 km (468 miles), up from 713 km (443 miles), and a faster 0–100 km/h acceleration time of 3.8 seconds, down from 4.4 seconds. These changes suggest that Tesla has bundled the previously optional Acceleration Boost for the Model 3, once priced at RMB 14,100 ($1,968), as a standard feature.

Delivery wait times for the long-range Model 3 have also been shortened, from 3–5 weeks to just 1–3 weeks, as per CNEV Post. No changes were made to the entry-level RWD or Performance versions, which retain their RMB 235,500 and RMB 339,500 price points, respectively. Wait times for those trims also remain at 1–3 weeks and 8–10 weeks.

Model Y range increases, pricing holds steady

The Model Y Long Range has also seen its CLTC-rated range increase from 719 km (447 miles) to 750 km (466 miles), though its price remains unchanged at RMB 313,500 ($43,759). The model maintains a 0–100 km/h time of 4.3 seconds.

Tesla also updated delivery times for the Model Y lineup. The Long Range variant now shows a wait time of 1–3 weeks, an improvement from the previous 3–5 weeks. The entry-level RWD version maintained its starting price of RMB 263,500, though its delivery window is now shorter at 2–4 weeks.

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Tesla continues to offer several purchase incentives in China, including an RMB 8,000 discount for select paint options, an RMB 8,000 insurance subsidy, and five years of interest-free financing for eligible variants.

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