Tesla wants to expand Grünheide – under certain conditions

André Thierig, Plant Manager of the German Tesla factory, gave an interview to the German press agency dpa. “We will not spend several billion on the expansion of the factory without the signals being very clear that the market will demand it,” Thierig said. “We firmly believe that the market will pick up again. It’s certainly a question of how quickly and when.”

In the annual report for the second quarter of 2024, Tesla stated an unchanged production capacity of 375,000 vehicles per year for Giga Berlin. Various versions of the Model Y roll off the production line in Brandenburg, which are primarily delivered in Europe. Thierig confirmed that right-hand drive models are now also being built in Brandenburg. “However, the fact that we now also serve the right-hand drive market in the UK and Ireland from Berlin means that we have a larger sales market that we can access directly,” the plant manager said. Thierig did not address rumours that the right-hand drive models from Grünheide could also be exported to India.

While the annual production capacity is 375,000 vehicles, actual production is lower, currently totalling around 250,000 cars per year. In the future, Tesla wants to ramp up production to one million units in Grünheide. However, this will require an expansion of the current plant – and the expansion has been met with protests.

That was also the case in May 2024, when local councillors in Grünheide gave the green light for the construction of a railway freight depot on the site. The site will be expanded by 118 hectares to the east – although this will require 50 hectares of forest to be cleared. In future, the new vehicles will be transported via the new freight station to the east of the plant. Until now, this has been done by truck. The municipality expects the railway station to significantly reduce traffic. Environmental organisations, on the other hand, see the environment at risk. Critics of the factory expansion were disappointed by the decision and referred to the referendum in February, in which 62.1 per cent of participants voted against the expansion.

Two years after its commissioning, the Tesla factory has already become an important factor for local employment. According to the company, around 12,000 people currently work at Giga Berlin. Tesla’s only European factory got off relatively lightly in the global job cuts announced in the spring: Only 400 jobs were cut in Grünheide.

rbb24.de (in German)