Tesla inaugurates huge Texas plant with 'Cyber Rodeo'

Tesla welcomed throngs of electric car lovers to Texas Thursday for a huge party dubbed a "cyber rodeo" to inaugurate a manufacturing plant the size of 100 soccer fields.

Photos and videos flooded Twitter as guests explored the cavernous factory plant decked out in a distinctive nightclub look.

Visitors mingled under red and blue lights while production machinery and Tesla models were displayed like museum artwork. Outside, cars were parked in the pattern of the Texas flag.

Bulldozers were still at work near the so-called "gigafactory," which signs indicated was constructed with more steel than New York City's famed Empire State Building.

"It's the equivalent to three Pentagons," Tesla's colourful but controversial founder and chief executive Elon Musk proudly told a cheering crowd inside the factory.

"This is the most advanced car factory the Earth has ever seen; raw materials on one side, cars out the other side."

Musk drove on stage in the first production model Tesla ever built and stepped out dressed in black complete with a cowboy hat and sunglasses.

He said ramping up production of existing models was going to be Tesla's priority this year.

"We are going to move to a truly massive scale," Musk said.

"That has to happen in order to transition the world to sustainable energy."

The move to a US state known for conservative Republican politics is seen by some as Musk stepping away from the liberal Silicon Valley culture in which he made his fortune.

The South African-born serial entrepreneur is now ranked the world's richest man. He founded Tesla in Silicon Valley in 2003, but shifted its headquarters to Texas late last year.

Musk has clashed with California regulators, particularly when health precautions mandated at the height of the pandemic closed Tesla's Fremont plant.

California is also investigating whether discrimination took place at Tesla's plant there.

Musk told the crowd that Tesla was continuing to expand in California, but was running out of room there.

"We needed a place where we could be really big, and there is no place like Texas," Musk said.

It remains to be seen how Musk will navigate conservative policies in Texas, such as the state's restrictive new abortion law and limits on seeking health services for transgender children.

Part of the Texas allure is a lack of corporate or personal income taxes. Tesla received more than $60 million in tax breaks to build the factory.