Tesla Overtakes as Germany’s Largest Car Manufacturer

In a challenging period for German and European automakers, as electric car demand softens across Europe, Tesla is poised to build Germany’s largest car factory. The new plant, which has sparked controversy, is expected to produce one million vehicles annually following a recently granted license.

Tesla’s first European factory is expected to increase production from the currently planned 500,000 cars per year – which has not yet been achieved – to one million once the factory has been expanded. This would overtake Volkswagen’s main plant in Wolfsburg and make Grünheide the largest automotive plant in the country.

“This is an important milestone and provides the planning security we need to accelerate future projects,” Tesla stated to the DPA news agency. The next phases will include the construction of new facilities for car and battery production. The Grünheide Gigafactory is set to employ over 12,000 workers. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has emphasized the factory’s crucial role in “accelerating the production of affordable electric vehicles.”

Tesla has been widely criticized for the factory, after satellite images showed the company, well-known for producing zero-emission cars in factories running on renewable energy, had cut down some 500,000 trees in order to create its giga factory in Germany.