Tesla Motors to build new HQ, factory in San Jose

It's no surprise to see Tesla Motors giving even more attention to California -- after all, Los Angeles is home to its very first dealership -- and as soon as the requisite approvals go through, San Jose will become the site of its new headquarters and factory. Both facilities will be located on around 90 acres of land near Highway 237 in North San Jose, and early reports peg the city giving Tesla a 40-year lease with the first decade being "rent-free." The Golden State is also stepping in to provide a sweet tax-free rent-to-buy deal on the factory equipment, and in the end, the two projects could generate around 1,000 direct or indirect jobs. One question, Tesla: how's the employee discount?

[who? @ Sep 17th 2008 6:48PM]

Breaking: A Best Buy is being built in Baltimore.

[Serp @ Sep 17th 2008 7:01PM]

Ordering my plane ticket now.

[Lowest Ranked @ Sep 17th 2008 7:09PM]

Awesomely amazing! An awful amount of 'B's, a lot of alliteration!

[JohnTitor @ Sep 17th 2008 7:23PM]

Cracking: A Circuit City is in creation in Cincinnati

[breakingWho @ Sep 17th 2008 8:41PM]

Breaking: Shut the hell up...

[who? @ Sep 17th 2008 8:34PM]

Newsflash: Nearly nobody now needs nice, new No Name knives. Nighty night now!

[john @ Sep 18th 2008 6:01PM]

Haha, y'all r are suckers! bc i live right next to it! Filling out job application as I live blog from my Touch Diamond! muahhhhh!!! just kiddin. Though i seriously will try to apply for a job there.

[King Kang @ Sep 17th 2008 7:00PM]

Whoa, wait, not in China? Not even in Taiwan? What's going on, guys?

[TiSE @ Sep 17th 2008 7:13PM]

Part of it is probably a marketing thing, with the whole "made in the USA" thing. The other part is probably government subsidies (like the tax-free deal they're getting).

Another part is that San Jose is part of Silicon Valley, where a very large concentration of techies who drool over (but can also afford) this car live.

[Yuriy @ Sep 18th 2008 4:14AM]

yah, another dumb car "made in USA".....

[Sofunnytom @ Sep 17th 2008 7:03PM]

test

[Lowest Ranked @ Sep 17th 2008 7:10PM]

Obviously you did not study because you have just Failed!

[tha-don @ Sep 17th 2008 11:21PM]

icle.

[Tomahawk @ Sep 17th 2008 7:06PM]

After seeing what the new Chevy Volt looks like, and hearing about its week battery charge I gladly welcome Tesla and eagerly await its Model Sand eventually the BlueStar, a true American Revolution.

[happy_penguin @ Sep 17th 2008 9:51PM]

Yeah and I'm sure at three times the cost of the Volt for two seats every family in America will have a Tesla.

You can't compare the two.

[Tomahawk @ Sep 17th 2008 11:46PM]

@happy_penguin
uhh.....did you even read my complete comment. I am talking about the Model S and the BlueStar not the Roadster which is available today (not in 2010). If having you been reading the press releases, you would know that the Tesla Model S is the four seater coming out around 2010 for around $60,000 and the BlueStar is coming out in 2012 for around $30,000.

RTFP!!!

See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Star_(car)

[happy_penguin @ Sep 18th 2008 11:26AM]

Apparently I misunderstood your post. Regardless, this new car will be $20 more than the projected price of the Volt and it will be produced by a brand new company. What about warranty? History hasn't shone well on the establishment of new car companies. Unless I was wealthy I wouldn't buy a Tesla until they've been in business for at least five to ten proven years.

[happy_penguin @ Sep 18th 2008 11:27AM]

Sorry that was $20K more.

[da_yam @ Sep 17th 2008 7:09PM]

It smells sooooo bad right there!!!
Nothing quite like having a water treatment plant permeating that new car smell!

[Taylor @ Sep 17th 2008 8:04PM]

I know, i was gonna say that too!
-Taylor

[Oxeneers @ Sep 17th 2008 7:16PM]

SAN CARLOS!

[Ian @ Sep 18th 2008 10:45PM]

hmm i agree.. although not quiet sure why you get low ranked. i mean its not like Tesla wasnt started in San Carlos or anything.

[evplasmaman @ Sep 17th 2008 7:20PM]

Woot! I totally need to get a job there now, It's just 10 miles from
my house. I would even be able to drive my electric car there! (no its
not a Tesla)

[Reader @ Sep 17th 2008 8:59PM]

Golf cart?

[Ian @ Sep 18th 2008 10:46PM]

no no no its a power wheels. you know those things we used to play with when we were kids.

[eric @ Sep 17th 2008 7:47PM]

would love to work there, saw this on zollotech.com last night

[GaryZ @ Sep 17th 2008 8:06PM]

Can we have the tesla roadster rent-to-buy and tax-free then?

[brett @ Sep 17th 2008 8:43PM]

Hey California Taxpayers: Must feel great to know you are shelling out big bux for Tesla at the same time your state is $16 billion in the hole! All for 1000 (rent-a-) jobs!

[Holiday Travel of America @ Sep 17th 2008 9:15PM]

Like to see the inside of the place.

[pundit @ Sep 17th 2008 10:18PM]

It's great to see a company willing to set up shop in the USA or Canada these days. We need manufacturing jobs, high–quality, well–paying ones at that.

Even though I'm not American, I really enjoy hearing about manufacturing jobs there, as it is a mainstay in the world's economy.

Congrats Tesla, maybe I'll buy one of your cars when I make my millions.

[Mikeweezer @ Sep 17th 2008 10:35PM]

Sweet! I can go look at a Tesla I'll never be able to afford, then head over to In-N-Out for a burger (right up the street).

'That's a good burger' - Dude... are you with me on this one???

[chop @ Sep 17th 2008 11:01PM]

whoever said it smells there is right. those salt farms combined with the nearby dump makes that area generally pretty smelly. although thats pretty cool that they're building it right here. maybe they'll run some tours like nummi and us bay area-ites can see some tesla's rolling off the line

[Chris Hanson @ Sep 17th 2008 11:08PM]

WOW!!!! I work a few blocks from this site. There is a lot of empty land there where they want to build it. The traffic on both those freeways is horrible though!!

[Chris Hanson @ Sep 17th 2008 11:08PM]

Also the reason there's a lot of free land there also is because there a water treatment plant close by and also a HUGE landfill. Smells!!

Seriously! Anyone who works by here knows..

[Actaeon @ Sep 17th 2008 11:24PM]

Sweet, I think.

I actually take 237 to Zanker every morning, I'd hate to see what kind of traffic this would generate. Traffic is bad enough already in the mornings for this highway.

This might explain why I saw the two news trucks by this pretty empty area this evening.

[K @ Sep 17th 2008 11:55PM]

woohoo! that's about 2miles from TiVo. we need to befriend someone at Tesla.

[wai law @ Sep 18th 2008 5:08AM]

Yay, I live so close to there. It smells weird around that area next to the power plant, though, cuz there's a landfill just north of it. Oh well, it's all good for the local economy. (Why did they say San Jose, when the site is clearly in Milpitas?)

[SteveJ @ Sep 18th 2008 8:02AM]

BlueStar is the exciting one. A (more or less) affordable, practical electric car. That's what I've been waiting for. I hope they manage to get it onto the market sooner than 2012, though, as my old 1997 Ford Escort might not make it to then and I really don't want to buy another fossil fuel burning car.