the president of Tesla, Elon Muskdanced for joy in the opening from his “megafactory” from electric cars near berlin this Tuesday, leaving behind two years of bureaucracy.
Danke Deutschland!” (“Thank you, Germany”) tweeted Musk following the plant’s opening ceremony, where he applauded, along with company employees, the 30 drivers who got behind the wheel of his new cars.
He even danced around a bit during car deliveries, the “Model Y” type.
The opening of the plant puts an end to a long process of two years of authorizations and works in which Tesla had to overcome various administrative and legal entanglements, including complaints from the population regarding the environmental impact that the factory will have.
With this plant, located in Gruenheide, in the Brandenburg region (east), Tesla hopes to employ some 12,000 employees and have a production capacity of 500,000 “Model Y” electric vehicles per year.
“Special day”
The German Minister of Economy, Robert Habeck, attended the event together with the German head of government, Olaf Scholz, and indicated that it was “a special day for the transformation of mobility in Germany”.
It is the first Tesla production plant in Europe.
Tesla’s arrival in Germany is expected to mark a turning point for the country’s car industry, which has heavyweights such as Volkswagen and Mercedes.
The arrival of the Californian company in Europe occurs at a time of sharp increase in the price of energy on the continent, with skyrocketing oil, which has led some drivers to opt for electric alternatives.
Like other automakers, Tesla has also been hit by material shortages and supply chain problems, caused in part by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Near the factory, a group of environmental activists demonstrated, calling for a better public transport system instead of “more cars”, according to Lou Winters, spokesman for the environmental group Sand im Getriebe.
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