Turkish President Erdogan asks Musk to build Tesla factory in Turkey

TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk to build a Tesla factory in Turkey, Anadolu Agency posted on social media platform X on Sunday.

Erdogan asked Musk during a meeting at Turkish House, a skyscraper near the United Nations in New York, the Turkish state-owned news agency said.

Musk is also set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in California on Monday. Musk posted on X that their talks would focus on artificial intelligence technology.

Erdogan is in the U.S. to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Tesla and the Turkish embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tesla in August expressed an interest in building a factory in India that would produce a low-cost electric vehicle (EV). Tesla currently has six factories and is building a seventh in Mexico in northern Nuevo Leon state, part of the electric carmaker's push to expand its global footprint.

Musk said in May that the automaker would probably pick a location for a new factory by the end of this year.

Tesla shares are up 123% so far this year and the automaker on Saturday said it had produced its 5 millionth car.

In addition to running Tesla, Musk also bought X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022.

While describing himself as a free speech absolutist, Musk has complied with some demands by the Turkish government to censor content in the country. In other cases, the social media company has objected to orders by the Turkish courts.