If everything works according to Tesla's plans and at the pace of the Giga Shanghai development, the Giga Factory in Austin, Texas should start with production by the end of 2021.
Tesla's Cybertrucks will see the light of day sooner than expected. However, after the production, the new vehicles will need to be shipped outside of the state lines and then shipped back to Texas.
According to the Texas laws, car manufacturers are not allowed to sell new cars to clients without the use of a franchised dealership, or a middle man.
No matter how ridiculous this sounds, it is the reality of Texas laws, and in case this doesn't change, Tesla will face the absurd scenario.
The automotive sales work through dealerships, but Tesla is one of the rare car companies that do direct sales from their website.
Nevertheless, if the law remains the same, people from Texas will be the last in line for the Tesla cars made in Texas.
There is a possibility that Tesla and Texas already agreed on the sales even before Mr. Elon Musk chose Austin as a new location. It is hard to imagine that a CEO like him would change the sale method of his cars, but we still need to wait and see.
During the meeting between Tesla and Texas state officials for the approval of the tax breaks, the authorities must have looked at the potential economic gain for their state, instead of letting Tesla chose another location, like Tulsa, Oklahoma.
However, at the Q2 2020 earnings call, Mr. Musk noted that although the company has chosen Austin, Texas as a location for the Cybertruck Giga, Tulsa will be considered as a location for the next projects.
Despite the long insisting, Tesla didn't succeed to convince the state of Texas to change the law. It's been almost a decade since Tesla is trying to make them enable a direct car sale. So far, no results.
The Texas Automobile Dealers Association, of course, is against this idea claiming that car dealership safeguards customers from the potential monopolies of the manufacturer.
In the end, Tesla will probably keep the online sale for Texas customers, as nobody can stop people from purchasing goods online and having them delivered where they live.
Even the spokesman of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, Jennifer Stevens, shared the company's opinion on Tesla's intervention in the state, “Tesla has long used an online model for the sale of their vehicles, and nothing in Texas law prevents a Texas consumer from purchasing a Tesla online and having it delivered to them in the state.”
