Tulsa Woos Tesla With Musk Statue

One of America’s biggest oil hotspots—Tulsa, Oklahoma—has found a novel way to advertise itself to Tesla, which is looking for a location for a new car factory. The city has started work on one of its landmarks, the Golden Driller statue, to make it look like Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk.

The statue—a tribute to oil drilling--was built in 1953 and has this inscribed at its base: “The Golden Driller, a symbol of the International Petroleum Exposition. Dedicated to the men of the petroleum industry who by their vision and daring have created from God’s abundance a better life for mankind.”

And that’s not all, some are even hopeful Musk will relocate the company’s headquarters to Tulsa, a city that is advertising itself as a low cost of living and low-tax rate heaven.

The hope that Tesla might choose to relocate came after Elon Musk lashed out at California county authorities that had ordered a suspension of all non-essential business, including carmaking. The order, by the health authorities of Alameda County, infuriated the Tesla CEO, which threatened to relocate the company.

“Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected & ignorant “Interim Health Officer” of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense!” Musk tweeted on Saturday. This was the same day that Tesla said in a blog post that it would reopen the Fremont factory in accordance with strict rules for safety.

“Frankly, this is the final straw,” Musk continued on Twitter. “Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependent on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.”

Separately, the company is looking for a location for its new factory, where it will make the Cybertruck, and Tulsa is on the short list, along with Austin, Texas. Tulsa is hard at work to win Tesla’s favor: the city’s mayor recently said on Twitter that the Tulsa police would buy Cybertrucks if they are produced there.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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