New Tesla gigafactory will be in Germany, announces Elon Musk
San Francisco, US - A new Tesla auto factory to serve the European market will be based in Germany, chief executive officer Elon Musk said on Tuesday.
Musk said during a ceremony at Germany’s Golden Steering Wheel awards that the new ‘Gigafactory’ would be ‘in the Berlin area’.
He said the company planned the facility ‘near the new airport’ in Berlin and that Tesla would also set up a design centre in the area.
“Everyone knows that German engineering is outstanding and that’s part of the reason we are locating our Gigafactory Europe in Germany,” he said on stage.
“We are also going to create an engineering and design centre in Berlin because I think Berlin has some of the best art in the world.”
Musk offered few details, but reports have said the company hopes to begin European production by 2021.
‘Giga Berlin,’ Musk tweeted, bookending the words with heart emojis. ‘Will build batteries, powertrains and vehicles, starting with Model Y,’ he added in another tweet.
Tesla is estimated to have some 30 per cent of the European market for battery-powered cars.
Musk’s announcement is good news for the German auto industry, according to professor Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer of the Center for Automotive Research at the University of DuisburgEssen. Tesla producing electric
cars in Germany could wave a checkered flag at the local competition, such as Volkswagen, BMW, and Daimler, speeding up innovation in the sector there, Dudenhoeffer said.
Tesla last month announced that it posted a profit in the recently ended quarter instead of taking a loss as analysts expected.