Foreign investment would be an economic boost for Mexico. The company has claimed that a plant there would create about 10,000 jobs. A Tesla competitor, BYD markets its Dolphin Mini model in Mexico for about 398,800 pesos—about $21,300 dollars—a little more than half the price of the cheapest Tesla model.
The Teslas from Shanghai are straight up better than the ones from Fremont… And if we’re being honest Shanghai probably has better quality of life than San Jose.
Teslas are anomalously bad to start with, so I can’t write that possibility off. I would definitely buy BYD before Tesla just as a consumer.
Shanghai being better than San Jose seems unlikely, though. America is definitely a lot richer, despite the warts.
Wealth does not necessarily improve quality of life.
Notably, electricity (among other things) is substantially cheaper in Shanghai.
On an individual level, sure there’s sad rich people, and happy slum refugees. On a population level it makes a huge difference.