as I said in another comment, he bought an abandoned plant, and tooled it up for his cars, he did not build from scratch. Finding buildings for car plants was way cheaper than building from the ground up.
With all the jobs the Big Three have moved to Mexico and Canada, I'm sure other states have empty automobile pants available to suit Musk's needs.
Well, the one here in Oklahoma was sold to the USAF and is now part of Tinker AFB, the Japanese bought a shitload and moved their operations here so the plant in Arlington TX went from making Fords (IIRC) to Toyotas. So I imagine finding an old assembly building isn't all that easy.
Maybe not out west so much, but in the rust belt I think there are plenty. I know a couple in Ohio that are either available or only a small portion of the factory has been repurposed.
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