Flight-tracking software showed that a private Gulfstream jet widely reported to belong to Mr. Musk, landed at Luton Airport from California.
The plane then moved on to Germany, where Mr. Musk paid a visit on Monday to the site of Tesla’s large “gigafactory”, which has been plagued by delays.
However, neither the government nor Tesla have confirmed the speculation about Mr. Musk’s brief stop in the UK.
The electric car mogul flew into Luton Airport on a private jet last weekend and stayed two days, reports say.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the visit coincides with a hunt by UK officials for “a major new car plant” location.
The secrecy around the bids has led to speculation that Mr. Musk may be involved.
The process was run by the Office for Investment, a new government office which is designed to help smooth out discussions between the public sector and private foreign investor’s post-Brexit.
Two years ago he made it clear that Brexit uncertainty was a factor in rejecting the UK and choosing Berlin as the location for Tesla’s “gigafactory”, which the company bills as “the most advanced high-volume electric vehicle production plant in the world”.
Now it’s still hard to see the logic for a Tesla plant just to supply the UK market – but Elon Musk has shown himself to be adept at taking advantage of government subsidies and tax breaks at home in the US, as well as in Germany. So don’t rule it out quite yet.
