Brandenburg minister says Giga Berlin to pick up production by autumn

After reports about delays at the Tesla Gigafactory under construction near Berlin, Brandenburg’s Minister of Economic Affairs Jörg Steinbach has questioned this information. The minister assumes that Model Ys will be built at the factory much earlier.

“I haven’t the slightest idea how anyone can assume a delay of six months,” Steinbach told Teslarati. “Unless something extraordinary happens, I still expect production to start in late summer or early autumn.”

Earlier this week, Automobilwoche had reported, citing company circles, that Elon Musk had given the Grünheide team “six months more time”. These six months were apparently added to the previously targeted July 2021 production start date, making January 2022 the new target.

However, this date and Musk’s statements passed on by the insiders contradict the public statements. In the investor call following the latest quarterly figures (according to the annual report, Tesla itself now assumes “end of 2021”), Musk said: “We are building factories as quickly as possible. Both Texas and Berlin are progressing well, and we expect to have limited production from those factories initially this year and mass production from Texas and Berlin next year. ”

Limited production probably means nothing more than an initial reduced capacity, but vehicles are already said to be built. The German website also gives an expected delivery of “end of 2021” for the Model Y if you order one of the vehicles today.

New Construction works at Tesla Grohmann Automation in Prüm, Germany.
The pillars look familiar with those from GigaBerlin pic.twitter.com/WxCIMejzqe

— 🔋Humpidumpi 🔋 (@Humpidumpi2) April 25, 2021

Meanwhile, there is also speculation about an expansion at the German Tesla subsidiary Tesla Automation (formerly Tesla Grohmann Automation). As the Belgian Tesla owner @Humpidumpi2 posted on Twitter, a new plant or building is apparently being built on the Tesla Automation site in Prüm in the Eifel region. What exactly is under construction there, however, is unclear. With the expansion of the Gigafactories in Texas and Brandenburg, demand will also increase for the Tesla subsidiary for industrial automation.

teslarati.com (Giga Berlin), teslamag.de (Tesla Automation, in German)