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Tesla’s 2024 highlights and challenges at Giga Berlin

Credit: Tesla Manufacturing/X

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Tesla has shared a new recap video for its vehicle factory in Germany, recalling many of the site’s top highlights for the year—as well as some of the challenges the factory faced.

In a Tuesday post on the company’s Manufacturing X page, Tesla shared a video pointing to how much it has accomplished at its Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg this year, despite many of the challenges the team faced from start to finish in 2024. These especially included some of Tesla’s factory closures and multiple attempts by environmental activists to derail the company’s production plans, seemingly to very little avail.

Tesla’s Giga Berlin produces the company’s Model Y crossover for much of Europe and surrounding markets. In January, Tesla’s Giga Berlin was forced to halt production due to armed conflicts in the Red Sea, causing a halt in output starting on January 29. However, the company managed to resume production at full speed by February 12.

READ MORE ON TESLA’S GIGA BERLIN: Tesla shows off solar, Powerwall-backed display at Giga Berlin

Then, just a month later in March, Tesla was forced to halt production at Giga Berlin once again. This time, the pause was due to an arson attack on the factory’s main power substation, with the environmental activist organization Vulcan Group claiming responsibility for the attack.

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The group went on to say that it was aiming to stop production at the factory, due to environmental issues with Tesla overall, Elon Musk, and what it called “technofascism.” After a little more than a week, Tesla managed to resume production at Giga Berlin, and Musk later went on to call for the attackers to be caught and punished, while one Minister tried to encourage Musk and Tesla to focus on their public relations efforts.

In May, activists also attempted to storm Giga Berlin and get inside, causing injuries of at least one protestor and three police officers. The company continued to face protest efforts from environmental activist groups throughout the year, with some that same month also creating treehouses in nearby forests that Tesla planned to chop down for its upcoming factory expansion.

Although Tesla promised to re-plant three times as many trees as it removed, the protestors remained active in the area up through last month, when police finally managed to vacate the groups and dismantle their treehouses.

Despite all of these barriers, Tesla’s video also highlights many of the things Tesla did for its employees, along with reaching 500,000 drive units in August and 400,000 total Model Y units built at Giga Berlin by September. You can check out Tesla’s full 2024 recap video from Giga Berlin below.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla Giga Berlin plant manager still optimistic despite Germany’s EV market

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Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla gets bold Robotaxi prediction from Wall Street firm

Last week, Andrew Percoco took over Tesla analysis for Morgan Stanley from Adam Jonas, who covered the stock for years. Percoco seems to be less optimistic and bullish on Tesla shares, while still being fair and balanced in his analysis.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) received a bold Robotaxi prediction from Morgan Stanley, which anticipates a dramatic increase in the size of the company’s autonomous ride-hailing suite in the coming years.

Last week, Andrew Percoco took over Tesla analysis for Morgan Stanley from Adam Jonas, who covered the stock for years. Percoco seems to be less optimistic and bullish on Tesla shares, while still being fair and balanced in his analysis.

Percoco dug into the Robotaxi fleet and its expansion in the coming years in his latest note, released on Tuesday. The firm expects Tesla to increase the Robotaxi fleet size to 1,000 vehicles in 2026. However, that’s small-scale compared to what they expect from Tesla in a decade.

Tesla expands Robotaxi app access once again, this time on a global scale

By 2035, Morgan Stanley believes there will be one million Robotaxis on the road across multiple cities, a major jump and a considerable fleet size. We assume this means the fleet of vehicles Tesla will operate internally, and not including passenger-owned vehicles that could be added through software updates.

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He also listed three specific catalysts that investors should pay attention to, as these will represent the company being on track to achieve its Robotaxi dreams:

  1. Opening Robotaxi to the public without a Safety Monitor. Timing is unclear, but it appears that Tesla is getting closer by the day.
  2. Improvement in safety metrics without the Safety Monitor. Tesla’s ability to improve its safety metrics as it scales miles driven without the Safety Monitor is imperative as it looks to scale in new states and cities in 2026.
  3. Cybercab start of production, targeted for April 2026. Tesla’s Cybercab is a purpose-built vehicle (no steering wheel or pedals, only two seats) that is expected to be produced through its state-of-the-art unboxed manufacturing process, offering further cost reductions and thus accelerating adoption over time.

Robotaxi stands to be one of Tesla’s most significant revenue contributors, especially as the company plans to continue expanding its ride-hailing service across the world in the coming years.

Its current deployment strategy is controlled and conservative to avoid any drastic and potentially program-ruining incidents.

So far, the program, which is active in Austin and the California Bay Area, has been widely successful.

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Tesla Model Y L is gaining momentum in China’s premium segment

This suggests that the addition of the Model Y L to Tesla China’s lineup will not result in a case of cannibalization, but a possible case of “premiumization” instead.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s domestic sales in China held steady in November with around 73,000 units delivered, but a closer look at the Model Y L’s numbers hints at an emerging shift towards pricier variants that could very well be boosting average selling prices and margins. 

This suggests that the addition of the Model Y L to Tesla China’s lineup will not result in a case of cannibalization, but a possible case of “premiumization” instead.

Tesla China’s November domestic numbers

Data from the a Passenger Car Association (CPCA) indicated that Tesla China saw domestic deliveries of about 73,000 vehicles in November 2025. This number included 34,000 standard Model Y units, 26,000 Model 3 units, and 13,000 Model Y L units, as per industry watchers. 

This means that the Model Y L accounted for roughly 27% of Tesla China’s total Model Y sales, despite the variant carrying a ~28% premium over the base RWD Model Y that is estimated to have dominated last year’s mix.

As per industry watcher @TSLAFanMtl, this suggests that Tesla China’s sales have moved towards more premium variants this year. Thus, direct year-over-year sales comparisons might miss the bigger picture. This is true even for the regular Model Y, as another premium trim, the Long Range RWD variant, was also added to the lineup this 2025. 

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November 2025 momentum

While Tesla China’s overall sales this year have seen challenges, the Model Y and Model 3 have remained strong sellers in the country. This is especially impressive as the Model Y and Model 3 are premium-priced vehicles, and they compete in the world’s most competitive electric vehicle market. Tesla China is also yet to roll out the latest capabilities of FSD in China, which means that its vehicles in the country could not tap into their latest capabilities yet. 

Aggregated results from November suggest that the Tesla Model Y took the crown as China’s #1 best-selling SUV during the month, with roughly 34,000 deliveries. With the Model Y L, this number is even higher. The Tesla Model 3 also had a stellar month, seeing 25,700 deliveries during November 2025.

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Cybertruck

Tesla Cybertruck earns IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award

To commemorate the accolade, the official Cybertruck account celebrated the milestone on X.

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Credit: IIHS/YouTube

The Tesla Cybertruck has achieved the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest honor, earning a Top Safety Pick+ rating for 2025 models built after April 2025. 

The full-size electric pickup truck’s safety rating is partly due to the vehicle’s strong performance in updated crash tests, superior front crash prevention, and effective headlights, among other factors. To commemorate the accolade, the official Cybertruck account celebrated the milestone on X.

Cybertruck’s IIHS rating

As per the IIHS, beginning with 2025 Cybertruck models built after April 2025, changes were made to the front underbody structure and footwell to improve occupant safety in driver-side and passenger-side small overlap front crashes. The moderate overlap front test earned a good rating, and the updated side impact test also received stellar marks.

The Cybertruck’s front crash prevention earned a good rating in pedestrian scenarios, with the standard Collision Avoidance Assist avoiding collisions in day and night tests across child, adult crossing, and parallel paths. Headlights with high-beam assist compensated for limitations, contributing to the top award.

Safest and most autonomous pickup

The Cybertruck is one of only two full-size pickups to receive the IIHS’ Top Safety Pick + rating. It is also the only one equipped with advanced self-driving features via Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system. Thanks to FSD, the Cybertruck can navigate inner city streets and highways on its own with minimal supervision, adding a layer of safety beyond passive crash protection.

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Community reactions poured in, with users praising the vehicle’s safety rating amidst skepticism from critics. Tesla itself highlighted this by starting its X post with a short clip of a Cybertruck critic who predicted that the vehicle will likely not pass safety tests. The only question now is, of course, if the vehicle’s Top Safety Pick+ rating from the IIHS will help the Cybertruck improve its sales. 

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