Tesla wants to further boost its business by expanding the Gigafactory in Grünheide. According to a report in the “Tagesspiegel”, one million vehicles a year will roll off the production line here in the future. The workforce in the factory in Brandenburg, where the successful Model Y is manufactured, is to increase from 11,000 to 22,500 employees. The plans also include a 700 by 700 meter production hall, which corresponds to a floor space of 490,000 square meters. The company, under CEO Elon Musk, is thus pursuing the ambitious goal of becoming the global market leader.
Industry expert Prof. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer rates the plans as “a declaration of war on all car manufacturers worldwide”, as he told the RBB. Musk has a “tough plan, and part of his plan is to bring everyone else to their knees.” “He will rage terribly with his price structures in the world car market – in Germany, in Europe.” According to Dudenhöffer, it cannot be ruled out that other car manufacturers will go bankrupt as a result. In the USA and China, for example, Tesla has already persuaded competing brands to adjust the selling prices of their cars downwards through its repeated price discounts in recent months.
After all, Musk wants Tesla to become the world’s largest carmaker. “He needs the production capacities for this,” explains the industry expert. He did the math: If the production plan for 20 million e-cars was distributed evenly across the production sites in China, the USA and Europe, this would mean seven million vehicles for Europe. Since Tesla produces most of these vehicles in Germany, this is “rather too small a capacity for Elon Musk”. Dudenhöffer therefore expects that Tesla could even increase its annual production rate to 30 million vehicles by 2030. “That would be about two or three times the size of VW,” clarifies the industry expert.
At its main plant in Wolfsburg, VW has an annual capacity of around 800,000 vehicles. Due to the chip crisis and the effects of the Ukraine war, the German carmaker only managed half of the production. However, production is now going well again.
Although the Volkswagen Group, which also includes Audi, Porsche and Seat, was the largest car manufacturer in the world in terms of global sales in 2022, the electric pioneer Tesla has already made it to the most valuable car manufacturer in the world. For several years, the US company has repeatedly reported delivery records.
In the Gigafactory in Grünheide, which opened in March 2022, 5,000 Tesla Model Y vehicles are currently rolling off the assembly line. With 105,307 units sold in Europe, it was the top-selling electric car in the first quarter of 2023. This was followed at a clear distance by the Volvo XC40 (35,226 units sold) and in 3rd place the VW ID.4 (31,481 units sold). Tesla recently announced a new delivery record. According to the company, a good 466,000 vehicles were delivered in the second quarter of 2023 – more than experts expected. Before 20 million Teslas roll off the assembly line in the coming decade, the electric car manufacturer is aiming for a total production of 1.8 million vehicles this year.
Sources: RBB, Tagesspiegel, ntv, Statista
