A small Missouri city is trying to lure Tesla Inc. with big bucks.
The city of Joplin, near Missouri’s borders with Oklahoma and Kansas, is seeking to tempt the electric-car maker with $1 billion in incentives and savings to build a new factory for its futuristic Cybertruck.
Joplin is offering Tesla a 1,042 acre site at a 50 percent discount, according to a website it’s built to court the company led by billionaire Elon Musk. It’s also coaxing the carmaker with a 100 percent tax abatement for 12 years and various other tax breaks and incentives.
The city, which is home to a pair of industrial-battery production facilities, has taken its campaign directly to Musk, with Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce President Toby Teeter appealing to the CEO Monday on Twitter. Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment on Joplin’s proposal.
Musk, 48, said in a March 10 tweet that Tesla was scouting locations to build the Cybertruck somewhere in the central U.S. In addition to producing the still in-development pickup, the CEO said the factory will make Model Y crossovers for customers on the East Coast.
Part of Joplin’s appeal is cheaper labor. The median for hourly earnings in the city is $27.86, significantly less than Austin, Texas, or Nashville, Tenn., which also may be vying for Tesla’s attention. Joplin says Tesla will be able to save $75 million annually on payroll compared with the manufacturing and engineering wages paid in those other markets.
Tesla shares rose as much as 14 percent on Tuesday after a Credit Suisse analyst upgraded the stock to the equivalent of a hold. The gain extends a seven-day run in which the shares have surged more than 60 percent.