Tesla Beats Out Toyota as The Largest Automotive Employer in California

Just weeks after we reported that Toyota will be moving much of their North American operations from California to Texas, a new king of automotive employment in the “Golden State,” has arrived: Tesla. The Elon Musk-owned electric car company now employs over 6,000 individuals in California, topping Toyota, who has 5,300 employees in the state. This news comes even before the Toyota transition to Texas ahead of 2017.

Reports also indicate that Tesla will add 500 more jobs to that number in California by the end of 2014, meaning that they will end up being the 41^st largest employer in the entire state, ahead of such companies as Boeing, Sony Pictures Entertainment and FX Networks Llc. Tesla’s influence in California could grow even greater if they decide to build one of their 5 billion-dollar “gigafactories” in a state that has an 8.5 percent corporate income tax rate. If the factory is built in California, it’s expected to add 6,500 more jobs. This increase would likely position Tesla Motors as about the number 10 employer in the state of California.

Tesla appears to be if nothing else, dead set on expansion. The “gigafactory” that they want to break ground on in the near future, could have a large impact on the automotive industry. The Tesla Model S currently costs nearly $70,000 according to the Tesla Motors website, before federal and state tax credits. Elon Musk has been quoted as saying that with construction of the Panasonic-backed factory, the cost of lithium-ion cells could be reduced by more than 30 percent, driving down the cost of the model S, which boasts somewhere between a 5 and 5.4 star NHTSA safety rating.

A fast, efficient, electric car, among the safest ever manufactured, with a price in, say the $30,000-$40,000 range, could really start to factor into the buying decisions of consumers looking for a midsized hybrid or electric sedan. Essentially, a Tesla available for sale in the U.S. for about $40,000 would be above current price range of the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf. For the time being, Tesla doesn’t yet sell 30,000 cars per year, however a lot could change if they are able to build a giant plant and lower the cost of their vehicles.