(Bloomberg) — Nearly 19 years after its founding, Tesla Inc. has a network of automobile factories that spans the globe.
The leading manufacturer of electric vehicles officially opened its plant on the outskirts of Berlin on Tuesday and delivered the first 30 Model Ys to customers in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The CEO, Elon Musk, fulfilled his promise to dance, as he did two years ago when Tesla opened its plant in Shanghai.
Tesla shares advanced for the sixth consecutive day, rising to 6.8% to $984 and driving the company's market capitalization above $1 trillion.
The €5 billion (US$5.5 billion) facility, first announced in late 2019, will boost Tesla's ability to manufacture electric SUVs, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine increases fuel costs. The question for 50-year-old Musk is how quickly the company will be able to increase production amid supply chain challenges in the industry, including the shortage of semiconductors and battery components.
“The start of production is good, but volume production will be the difficult part,” Musk said in October during a visit to the plant's construction site. He said then that by the end of this year, Tesla would aim to manufacture between 5,000 and 10,000 vehicles per week.
Tesla's Grüenheide plant is essential for Musk to capture more of Europe's expanding EV market. Last week, he tweeted that he was working on a new “master plan” for the automaker and wrote on Monday that “scaling to extreme size” would be a main topic.
The start of Model Y deliveries at the factory is the culmination of a surprise announcement Musk made when he accepted an award more than two years ago during an event attended by the directors of BMW AG, Volkswagen AG and Audi. The company now produces from the automotive heart of Germany, where Tesla has hired more than 3,000 workers.
That number will grow in the coming months, Tesla said in an emailed statement. The company expects to eventually employ 12,000 people once full production is underway.
“We need to support the progress that is driving new technologies, because that is how we will get new jobs,” Scholz said in statements prepared for a speech at the facility.
Though Tesla built the plant quickly, it was beset by months of permit delays that sometimes exasperated the richest person in the world.
Concerns at the site focused on its environmental impact, as activists oppose the cutting of trees that preceded construction and the effects the plant will have on wildlife and water supply. The latter problem could persist and be a factor in Musk's expansion plans, as the local authority warned last week that further development will not be possible without additional mining permits.
Original Note:
Tesla's German Feat Pushes Market Value Back Above $1 Trillion
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Últimas Noticias
Debanhi Escobar: they secured the motel where she was found lifeless in a cistern
Members of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in Nuevo León secured the Nueva Castilla Motel as part of the investigations into the case
The oldest person in the world died at the age of 119
Kane Tanaka lived in Japan. She was born six months earlier than George Orwell, the same year that the Wright brothers first flew, and Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
Macabre find in CDMX: they left a body bagged and tied in a taxi
The body was left in the back seats of the car. It was covered with black bags and tied with industrial tape
The eagles of America will face Manchester City in a duel of legends. Here are the details
The top Mexican football champion will play a match with Pep Guardiola's squad in the Lone Star Cup
Why is it good to bring dogs out to know the world when they are puppies
A so-called protection against the spread of diseases threatens the integral development of dogs
