Minister Barrot says he wants a Tesla Gigafactory in France

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“It will be great to have a Tesla factory in France. There has been a lot of effort and energy to make sure this is possible and this can happen,” Jean-Noel Barrot told CNBC.

France has been courting Chinese EV giant BYD (SZ:002594) and Tesla to build factories in the country.

“We have also invested in an … entire sector of electric batteries so we will try to convince (Elon Musk) that France is the best possible place in Europe to establish the next Tesla factory,” Barrot said.

During a May 15th meeting between Musk, Macron, and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, the CEO said he was confident Tesla would make “significant investments” in France in the future but shied from providing a timeline.

Macron said on Wednesday he would meet Musk again on Friday.

France previously attempted to persuade Musk to build his first European gigafactory in the country, but Musk chose Germany.

Shares of TSLA are up 0.19% near mid-day trading on Wednesday.