Apparent Tesla Model 2 sketch pops at Engineering HQ unveiling as Mexico president warns its Gigafactory may lack water

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has chimed in on the possible location of Tesla's upcoming Gigafactory in the country as he is expected to meet Elon Musk to discuss all options soon. He is of the opinion that the Nuevo León location that Tesla is exploring because of the proximity with the Texas border, and where it may at one point assemble its first mass market Model 2 electric vehicle, isn't as fit for the purpose as Elon Musk thinks.

"There are favorable conditions in Nuevo León. They have a skilled workforce, they have engineers, it’s very close to the border," clarified the Mexico's President during a press conference this week. "But the lack of water?" He then said that the water shortages that are plaguing the northern states aren't an issue in the south of the country where a Tesla Gigafactory might find better conditions to operate. "There’s water, there’s gas, there’s electricity … that’s part of what we want to make known," he added.

Tesla is also rumored to be exploring a lot near the Mexico City airport as a convenient transport hub, but apparently its Giga Mexico plans are still in flux and that's what President López Obrador plans to capitalize on by nudging Elon Musk to consider the southeast states where 70% of the country's water is at.

Back in December, a local official commented that Tesla's Mexican Gigafactory "investment, including initial phases and future expansions, would exceed 10 billion dollars." "It will consist in investment in the initial phase for various components for existing models, and in future phases it would be a new model with a lower cost than the current ones," alluding to Tesla's next vehicle platform, tentatively known as the Model 2, which would usher in the era of US$25,000 EVs.

That same Model 2 may have leaked in terms of prototype design by Tesla itself, as it showed sketches of a mysterious new form factor in a teaser video. During an event with California's Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday, Elon Musk announced the launch of a Tesla Engineering HQ in Palo Alto. In the promo video touting Tesla's presence in California that played at the event, a drawing board with a couple of sketches was shown.

There, alongside sketches that resemble existing Tesla vehicles like the Model 3 or the Model Y, was one that jibed with a mysterious hatchback-style form factor that Tesla teased a while back in a couple of job listings.

Since the Model 2 is expected to be "smaller, to be clear," as Elon Musk said, and may come in the form of a hot hatch, the drawing here may contain a hint for Tesla's next generation mass market EV platform. It is about to be unveiled at Investor Day on March 1 and there is a high possibility that Tesla may show at least sketches of the affordable Model 2 there as well.

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