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Tesla CEO offers jobs, future electric truck to Texas


The state of Texas was offered a good old-fashioned bribe yesterday when Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, offered the state thousands of jobs in exchange for letting him sell his cars within its borders. Just like any high-end electronics or car manufacturer.

"When we do establish a manufacturing plant outside of California, Texas would be a leading candidate for that," Musk teased.

The entrepreneur estimated that he could sell 1,500 to 2,000 cars per year in Texas if the state would allow his stores to tell customers what its cars cost, take orders, and perform warranty services. Under highly restrictive Texas laws designed to protect established car dealers, Tesla isn't even allowed to provide the potential customers who visit its high-end mall stores with the company's website address (which, for readers who live beyond the barbecue curtain, is www.teslamotors.com).

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Turning on the charm, Musk also teased that Tesla might even manufacture a truck in Texas within four or five years, Automotive News reported:

"I have this idea for a really advanced electric truck that has the performance of a sports car but actually more towing power and more carrying capacity than a gasoline or diesel truck of comparable size," Musk said. "That could be really cool, and I think that would probably make sense to do that at a new plant."

No word on whether the "advanced electric truck" would be a pickup as depicted in the illustration above, or something more akin to the Model X sport-utility vehicle announced last February. Possibly, Musk was just messing with Texas.