Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Friday that he’s been “trying” to reach Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk regarding comments he's made about purchasing some of the factories that General Motors Co. is looking to close next year.
“If Elon Musk wanted that plant that’d be terrific,” Kasich said on Bloomberg Markets on Friday. “I’ve been trying to get a call to him,” the governor continued. “I’m trying to call him myself.”
He added, “We want to have conversations, and Elon, if you’re watching, you know, I’m trying to reach you.
“But there are other companies who will want to look at that plant, and we’ll see, but in the short term here we’ve got to figure out what the strategy of General Motors is.”
Musk during a 60 Minutes interview Sunday said it was "possible that we would be interested. If they were going to sell a plant or not use it that we would take it over."
GM chief executive Mary Barra told reporters that the company is “working very hard to make sure General Motors is around for several decades in a leadership position, can provide jobs and support the communities and the stakeholders that are involved with the company,” according to NBC4 in Columbus.
"We are trying to do the right thing," she added. "We think Ohio is a very important auto state. We have a very good workforce there and we have a tremendous amount of workers in the state that will continue."