Tesla plans to tap British automotive expertise by establishing a UK base, Elon Musk has said.

The billionaire boss of the electric car company announced the move as Tesla made its first major acquisition, buying German engineering business Grohmann as it prepares to automate its production.

“We have a lot of respect for the British automotive engineering talent,” the billionaire said. “Just look at Formula 1 - it amazes me how much British talent there is in that.

“We are likely to establish a Tesla engineering group in Britain at some point in the future.”