Tesla workers spotted arriving at Fremont plant after Elon Musk Twitter eruption
Fox Business Briefs: Tesla is suing the state of California in an attempt to reopen its factory in Fremont while CEO Elon Musk is threatening to move its headquarters or future programs to Texas or Nevada; The Daily Mail says Amazon is interested in buying AMC Theaters.
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Shift workers were back on the job at Tesla's assembly plant in Fremont, Calif., on Monday even though county health officials haven't given the go-ahead for a reopening, KPIX-TV reported.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk publicly threatened to sue California's Alameda County on Saturday and to move the electric car maker's headquarters elsewhere after health officials said the company’s factory couldn’t reopen yet due to the coronavirus pandemic.
ELON MUSK BACKS REOPENING, TAKES HEAT FROM REP. OMAR
Erica Pan, the county health officer, said on Friday that Tesla was working with the county, but the company had not yet been cleared to reopen the Fremont facility, even after California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that manufacturers would be allowed to resume operations, Reuters reported.
An employee works on a Telsa Motor Inc. Model S sedan as it makes its way along an assembly line at company's assembly plant in Fremont, California, U.S., on Wednesday, July 10, 2013. Photographer: Noah Berger/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“Frankly, this is the final straw,” Musk wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “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 dependent on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in [California]."
Tesla has already restarted its China factory after the pandemic forced it to temporarily close. Musk pointed to that as an example of how the company could reopen responsibly elsewhere.
“Tesla knows far more about what needs to be done to be safe through our Tesla China factory experience than an (unelected) interim junior official in Alameda County,” he tweeted.
Musk has been a big proponent of resuming normal business operations, writing that the “coronavirus panic is dumb” in March and demanding in a tweet last month, “FREE AMERICA NOW.”