“Later there were union problems, and eventually the government intervened somehow, I believe on behalf of Tesla, who ended up the new owner of the factory”
I don’t know the details you speak of, but I’m fairly certain that Tesla took over a shuttered joint GM/Toyota plant in Nor. Cal. that was making the defunct Matrix and the GM equivalent.
The GM equivalent was the first generation Pontiac Vibe. One of my cousins had one.