It seems Elon Musk wants to expand Tesla’s manufacturing presence: The Detroit Free Press reports that the electric carmaker is acquiring Riviera Tool, a Grand Rapids, Michigan, auto-parts manufacturer.
Citing inside sources who have not been authorized to speak publicly about the transaction, the Free Press says that Tesla Motors is expected to retain Riviera’s approximately 100 employees and will rename the business Tesla Tool & Die. The company currently makes stamping parts in Michigan, which are then sent to Tesla’s Fremont, California, assembly plant, the paper reports.
The alleged transaction makes sense in light of Tesla’s ambitious sales goals: During this week’s investor earnings call, Musk revealed that the company is on track to sell 55,000 vehicles this year, having sold just over 10,000 in the first quarter of 2015. In addition to this best-ever sales volume, Musk promised that the Model X crossover will arrive in the third quarter of this year, with the $35,000-range Model 3 to be revealed in early 2016 ahead of a late 2017 production debut.
That increased production demand makes the need for more manufacturing capacity almost inevitable, and Tesla’s apparent choice of the Michigan supplier gives the automaker a presence among the Detroit Three. But there’s a tinge of irony in that: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder recently signed statewide legislation, backed by that scrappy upstart General Motors, to ban Tesla’s direct sales model in the state.
“Maybe Michigan shouldn’t stop us from selling cars here. That would be a nice gesture,” Musk remarked at a Detroit event in January.
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