Thousands flock to Texas Gigafactory for Tesla's 'Cyber Rodeo'
TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — It was an invitation-only party for thousands and the biggest secret and the toughest ticket to get in Austin on April 7. Tesla held a "Cyber Rodeo at Giga Texas," event for guests at it's new billion-dollar-plus "Gigafactory".
Some 15,000 people attended the private event hosted by Tesla mogul Elon Musk to mark the opening of the new factory in Travis County that also serves as the company's new home following its move from California.
Musk drove onto stage wearing a cowboy hat and sunglasses. "We needed a place where we could be really big. And there's no place like Texas," he told the crowd.
There was live music, interactive tours, carnival games, food and alcohol at the Cyber Rodeo that wrapped up with a fireworks show.
Musk said the new Texas factory is the equivalent to three Pentagon headquarters buildings, and is the largest factory building in the world by volume.
Tesla now has six factories on three continents and Musk said choosing the location of each factory was strategic. "It's also going to be better for the environment, because we want to make the cars where the customers are, and not put them on ships over the oceans, so it's going to be way better to make the cars locally," he said.
According to Musk the plant will employ up to 10,000 workers, and build the Tesla Cybertruck, Semi, Model 3 and Model Y sport utility vehicles. In March, he also opened another "Gigafactory" on the outskirts of Berlin to produce the Model Y SUV.