The Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini, openly invited Tesla to invest more in the country with a long history of the automotive industry.
Salvini in a webinar praised Elon Musk, calling him one of the world’s “major innovative geniuses”.
Salvini said the Italian car industry would greatly benefit from Tesla and invited the Texas-based company to set up its next Giga Factory in the country.
Italy itself has a long automotive history with many vehicle brands coming from the Mediterranean country such as Ferrari, Fiat, Lamborghini and others.
Salvini said that Tesla would have the full support of the Italian government, given that the automaker has encountered several problems in Germany, including a “protected” forest area on Berlin’s Giga site that Tesla wants to clear for construction.
Even though Tesla finally got approval, the whole process took months to complete. Giga Berlin opened earlier this year, making it the first Tesla Gigafactory in Europe and the second outside the US.
Tesla has been selling electric vehicles in Italy since 2011 and currently has several hundred Superchargers spread across the country. Previously, Tesla was giving Supercharger access to non-Tesla electric vehicles in Italy. In total there are 18 Supercharger stations in Italy that can be used by everyone, not just Tesla owners.
In August, Elon Musk teases Tesla’s new gigafactory might be in Canada. Whether or not Tesla has any real interest in a second European Gigafactory remains to be seen.
