Tesla to pick location for new India factory this year, says Musk

SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla Inc chief executive officer Elon Musk said on Tuesday the automaker would probably pick a location for a new factory by the end of this year.

When the Wall Street Journal's Thorold Barker asked Musk at an event if India was interesting, he said, "Absolutely".

Tesla is "serious" about its plans to establish a manufacturing base in India, the country's deputy minister for technology told Reuters in an interview last week.

Tesla announced earlier this year that it would open a gigafactory in Mexico as the world's most valuable automaker pushes to expand its global output.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter and founder of several other firms, on Tuesday floated the idea of creating an educational institution that controls most of his votes, without giving details.

He said he has identified a successor to the board so that the person can run the company in "a worst case scenario". "I've told the board 'Look, if something happens to me unexpectedly, this is my recommendation for taking over,'" he said.

James Murdoch, a Tesla board director, testified in court last year that Musk has identified someone as a potential successor to head the electric carmaker at a time when investors were concerned about his distraction with Twitter.

Musk recently announced a new CEO for Twitter, and said he would focus more on Tesla.