Comparing Tesla Motors and Toyota Motor Corporation may not be fair, but it’s interesting to note Tesla’s growth in California.
Toyota has been around for over eighty years, and is worth over $170 billion today. In California, the undisputed home of the automobile in the United States, Toyota employs about 5,300 people. Tesla Motors is far younger, just eleven years, but is already worth over $26 billion. In California, Tesla already employs at least 5,500 people, and is set to add another 500 jobs by the end of the year.
Worldwide, Tesla Motors is expanding, all part of the plan, what with the launch of the Tesla Model X and whatever the mass-market model will be called, it is expected. The Tesla Gigafactory itself, planned for groundbreaking in the next couple of months, will employ about 6,000 people as well, once it is complete. For now, Tesla Motors is staying in California, even though wages and electricity prices are higher, which is actually pushing other automakers out of the state.
Toyota, for example, is planning on moving everything to Texas, and thousands of jobs will likely follow the company. Toyota’s leaving California will leave Tesla Motors the state’s biggest employer in the automotive sector, and thousands of ex-Toyota employees will likely look to Tesla for employment. As it is, whenever Tesla advertises jobs, it is overwhelmed with resumes. A recent Tesla Motors Fremont job fair actually had to be closed after just two hours, due to the response and resulting traffic jam.
Image © Tesla Motors
