Auto parts maker plans factory on East Side.
German company’s new East Side facility appears to be linked to Tesla plant in Austin
A German auto parts maker is set to open a new manufacturing facility on San Antonio’s East Side.
The move appears to be connected to Tesla’s latest gigafactory, which is under construction in Austin.
Elringklinger AG is planning to move into a building at 4222 IH-35, east of Fort Sam Houston, according to documents filed with the city.
City Council approved a deal last month that grants Elringklinger $198,000. In return, the manufacturer agreed to spend at least $16.8 million on its East Side facility and to create 52 full-time jobs in San Antonio by the end of 2024.
When the plant is complete, Elringklinger will produce lightweight auto parts using plastic injection molding. The site will “support Elringklinger’s supplier relationship with a leading electric car and battery company,” according to the city documents.
Elringklinger did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The company has not publicly named Tesla, the electric car maker, as one of its customers. But it appears to have been supplying parts to Tesla since at least 2019.
In November 2019, Elringklinger said it was “intensifying its cooperation with a leading U.S. electric vehicle manufacturer” through a five-year contract to supply cockpit cross-car beams for a fully-electric car model. The contract followed a previous agreement with the automaker, Elringklinger said at the time.
The manufacturer began producing the cross-car beams at its plant in Fremont, Calif., in April 2020. Tesla also operates a factory in Fremont.
Elringklinger previously set a goal of generating 25 percent of its sales from lightweight parts designed for electric vehicles by the end of this decade, CEO Stefan Wolf said.
In this year’s first quarter, the company earned $44.8 million on $501 million in revenue.
Last year, Tesla founder Elon Musk announced his move to Austin after his company began building a $1.1 billion factory there. The plant is expected to start producing Tesla’s Cybertruck later this year and will eventually employ about 5,000 workers.
In San Antonio, the jobs Elringklinger plans to create will pay more than $50,000 per year on average. At least 85 percent of the jobs must pay a wage greater than $17.27 per hour for the company to receive the city grant.
Elringklinger, which has 9,600 employees globally, said it plans to work with the city to market the
open positions to participants in the Ready to Work program.
The city-led job training initiative provides skills training to
workers who were thrown out of their jobs by the pandemic.
So far, however, the $75-million program championed by Mayor Ron Nirenberg has struggled to place unemployed San Antonians in new occupations. Nine months since its launch, 214 residents have been placed in jobs through the program.
When the manufacturing facility is complete, Elringklinger said it will hire electricians, technicians, engineers and production workers.