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Elon Musk: Tesla to build car and battery factory in ‘Berlin area’

The best-known producer of electric cars, Tesla, will build a car and battery factory near Berlin, founder and CEO Elon Musk announced in the German capital on Tuesday.

Musk said on Twitter that Tesla “will build batteries, powertrains and vehicles, starting with Model Y” lower-priced
sports utility vehicle at the factory.

Several news outlets cited the statement by Musk, who is visiting Berlin for the annual Goldene Lenkrad (Golden Steering Wheel) automotive awards organized by car magazine Autobild, an offshoot of the daily Bild.

According to Bild, Musk said the factory would be built near the construction site of the unfinished Berlin airport. Musk made the announcement after the Tesla Model 3 snatched the award for the best car in the middle/upper vehicle class.

Musk also said that Tesla would be opening a design and engineering center in Berlin, reported the Electrek magazine, a publication specializing in E-mobility. They also cited Musk as saying that the factory would be built in the “Berlin area.”


The Tesla CEO did not immediately provide details on the factory size or the number of employees. At the same time, the company started listing jobs for the Germany site on Tuesday.

Read more (from 2018):Wooing Tesla: Eastern Germans vie for Elon Musk’s attention

Musk has been speculating on a European production site for several years, and various European countries have mounted campaigns to lure the manufacturer to their soil. Tesla also considered multiple sites within Germany, with Musk saying that “the German-French border makes sense” as a factory location.

The Tesla compound in Berlin would be designated as Gigafactory 4, following the Gigafactory 1 in the US state of Nevada, Gigafactory 2 in the state of New York, and the yet-unfinished Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai.

“Tesla is coming to Brandenburg with a big investment,” Dietmar Woidke, state premier of Brandenburg, which surrounds
Berlin, said in a statement. “We lobbied for this for a long time in intensive talks and with good arguments.”

dv, dj, jsi/se (dpa, AFP, Reuters)

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Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/elon-musk-tesla-to-build-car-and-battery-factory-in-berlin-area/a-51218101?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-xml-atom