Snubbed by Tesla, Mexican govt pledges to create affordable electric car

Snubbed by Tesla, Mexico's new president pledged Friday to create a Mexican-made small, affordable electric car to compete with vehicles imported from China.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said Teslas were too onerous, or expensive, for the Mexican market anyway. Tesla's cheapest car, the Model 3, costs about USD 30,000.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in July the company had paused plans for a plant in Mexico, citing Donald Trump's remarks about possible auto tariffs.

Sheinbaum said her government will try to bring together Mexican companies and researchers to produce a compact, cheap electric car.

The idea is to use Mexican companies and Mexican researchers' ingenuity, to bring them together to assemble this electric car, Sheinbaum said. The idea is to create production chains so that this entire electric car is made in our country.

She cited electric vehicles from China and India some of which are already flooding into Mexico as examples. Small electric motorbikes from China have flood