So, as it turns out, Tesla’s plans to expand its factory in Germany are going ahead as planned, and the city council hasn’t done anything to hinder its progress, despite some reports.
The mayor of Gruenheide, the town where the plant is located, told Reuters that Tesla confirmed to him the plans were unchanged.
“Tesla put everything reported in the American newspaper into perspective. The plant is still being built,” Cristiani told the outlet.
It was also initially reported that the plans were nixed by the German city’s council, but as it turns out, Cristiani says it was never on the agenda in the first place.
According to Retuers, Tesla applied for the plant extension in May of this year. It was being discussed by some community representatives that it would impact. Only after those discussions concluded would it enter the council’s agenda.
Reuters reports that Tesla, as is tradition, could not be reached for comment. The company has, of course, disbanded its entire public relations department. As you can imagine, that makes it hard to get things out of the company.
It was initially reported that the council wanted more clarification on Tesla’s plans for the plant. Tesla had submitted an application in May to expand its 300 hectares of land by another 100 hectares to the east. The company plans to build a freight station, logistics area, and parking spaces on that new land.
Tesla is currently in the midst of ramping up Model Y production at the German plant. We don’t yet have exact current production figures, but over the Summer Tesla claims it was building 1,000 cars per week. Soon, that number will be up to 5,000 vehicles per week in the first quarter of next year. In 2023, the company is aiming to hit 2 million cars produced.