Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Saturday warned that he would move the company's headquarters and future programs out of California with a lawsuit filling on reopening issues.
"Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately," as the county health officer "is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms &just plain common sense," Musk said on Twitter, asking the public to "voice your disagreement as strongly as possible with Alameda County."
"Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen (sic) on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA," Musk said in a tweet.
According to Musk, Tesla, with its corporate office in Palo Alto, is the biggest manufacturer and the second-biggest exporter in California.
Musk has strongly criticized the economic restrictions put in place to fight the coronavirus. The plant in Fremont of Alameda County officially stopped its operations in late March, nearly a week after Alameda County's shelter-in-place orders were implemented on March 17. Recently, He has been seeking to reopen the Fremont factory despite the local and state stay-at-home orders still in effect.
"Exactly! Tesla knows far more about what needs to be done to be safe through our Tesla China factory experience," he said.
The Tesla Shanghai gigafactory resumed operation on Feb. 10 amid the COVID-19 outbreak, one of the earliest automakers to go back to work in China.
