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Tesla Giga Berlin production targets still on track despite hiring fewer temp workers: report

Image Credit: Tesla Europe/Twitter

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It’s a bit out of character, but Tesla seems poised to take a breather at its Germany-based electric vehicle plant. As per recent reports, Tesla will start hiring fewer temporary workers at Giga Berlin than it did when the plant was ramping up. 

Tesla also reportedly noted that while the EV maker will refrain from Saturday shifts, Giga Berlin is still on track to achieve its production targets. This suggests that for now, at least, Giga Berlin could allot some of its attention to priorities that lie beyond just sheer vehicle production volume. 

Tesla’s recent comments followed previous reports which claimed that the company was putting on hold its goal of producing 6,000 cars per week, as per a Reuters report. For context, Giga Berlin was able to achieve a production rate of 5,000 Model Y per week back in March. A production rate of 4,000 Model Y per week was achieved in the month before that. 

Gigafactory Berlin only produces the Model Y crossover, but it is an important part of the electric vehicle maker’s overall operations. With Giga Berlin in place, European countries no longer had to rely on Gigafactory Shanghai for its Model Y units. This was a key improvement for Tesla, considering that the Model Y is its best-selling vehicle. 

Giga Berlin may be Tesla’s de facto vehicle factory in Europe for now, but another country, France, has expressed its intention to attract the EV maker. As per recent comments from digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot, France is putting in a lot of effort to encourage Tesla to invest in the country. If Tesla goes for France as its next Gigafactory location, Giga Berlin might have some friendly competition coming. 

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“It will be great to have a Tesla factory in France, there has been a lot of effort and energy to make sure this is possible, and this can happen. We have also invested in an… entire sector of electric batteries, so we will try to convince him that France is the best possible place in Europe to establish the next Tesla factory,” Barrot said. 

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla is back on top in Norway with new Model Y starting deliveries

Tesla registered over 1,000 Model Ys in Norway this March, more than twice the tally of its closest rival, the Volkswagen ID. Buzz.

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Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Tesla has staged a comeback in Norway’s electric vehicle market with the launch of the new Model Y. With deliveries starting domestically, the new all-electric crossover has reclaimed its spot as Norway’s most registered car this month and year-to-date.

Tesla’s results in Norway this month could be seen in Elbilstatistikk, which closely tracks EV registrations in the country.

New Model Y Boost Tesla in Norway

Data from Elbilstatistikk revealed that Tesla Norway has seen over 1,000 Model Y registrations this March so far, more than twice the tally of its closest rival, the Volkswagen ID. Buzz, which has over 400 registrations. The new Model Y’s comeback also resulted in the all-electric crossover being the county’s top electric vehicle year-to-date, with 2,032 registrations so far.

The new Model Y’s dominant performance in Norway hints at the vehicle’s strong appeal to consumers, especially considering the controversial nature of the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, today. Sentiments against Musk have been notable as of late, resulting in some Tesla owners feeling the brunt of vandalism and abuse incidents in the United States, Canada, and some areas of Europe.

Credit: Elbilstatistikk

High Hopes for New Model Y

The Model Y comprises a huge portion of Tesla’s global sales. During Tesla’s Q1 2025 All-Hands meeting, Elon Musk highlighted that the Model Y is the company’s most successful vehicle so far. Such comments are accurate considering that the Model Y classic became the world’s best-selling vehicle by volume in both 2023 and 2024. As per Musk during the recent All-Hands meeting, the revamped Model Y should be able to achieve such heights this year as well.

“Model Y became the best-selling vehicle in the world. You know FYI, we do make the best. It’s like, how are we doing in our popularity? Well, we actually literally make the best-selling car on Earth, of any kind. That’s two years in a row. And it’s going to be the best-selling car on Earth again this year,” Musk stated.

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Tesla new Model Y needs a telescope to see its closest competitor in China

With the new Model Y now being delivered to domestic customers, Tesla China’s new vehicle registrations have seen a notable rise.

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Credit: Tesla China

Tesla China’s vehicle sales saw a strong recovery once the new Model Y started customer deliveries. This could be seen in China’s rankings for premium battery electric SUVs priced from RMB 200,000 to RMB 300,000 during the week of March 10-16, 2025.

As per the week’s rankings, the new Model Y’s sales are so far ahead, it would need a telescope to see its closest competitor.

Tesla China’s February Results

A look at the mainstream news cycle would show that Tesla China saw a notable drop in February. During the month, Tesla sold 30,688 vehicles wholesale, a 51.47% decline from January’s 63,238 and a 49.16% slide from the 60,365 that were sold wholesale in February 2024. 

It should be noted that the new Model Y only started local deliveries in the final days of February. This meant that for the majority of the month, Tesla China was mostly clearing out its inventory of Model Y classic units. This essentially resulted in Tesla China’s strongest seller being throttled for most of February. This will likely not be the case this March.

New Model Y’s March Comeback

With the new Model Y now being delivered to domestic customers, Tesla China’s new vehicle registrations have seen a notable rise. During the week of March 10-16, 2025, Tesla China saw 15,300 new vehicle registrations, the highest for the quarter. These figures were bolstered by the new Model Y, whose local sales reached 9,451 units during the week. 

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With 9,451 units sold during the week ending March 16, the new Model Y became China’s best-selling premium electric SUV priced from RMB 200,000 to RMB 300,000. This is a notable accomplishment for the new Model Y, especially since its closest competitor, the Zeekr 7X, was able to sell just 1,390 units during the same week. That’s just about 14% of the new Model Y’s sales.

Tesla China’s Potential Q1 Results

Considering that Tesla China did not start local deliveries of the new Model Y until late February, it would not be surprising if the electric vehicle maker’s first quarter delivery numbers show a year-over-year decline. A clearer view of the new Model Y’s overall effect on Tesla China’s local sales would likely become more evident in the coming quarters.

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Tesla to explore the limits of casting with Cybercab line

Tesla expects to produce 2 million units of the Cybercab per year.

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Credit: @serobinsonjr/X

Tesla tends to push the limit of automotive manufacturing processes. This was true for the Model Y and its front and rear megacasts, and it will likely also be true for the Cybercab, which is expected to start volume production sometime in 2026.

This was, at least, as per CEO Elon Musk during the company’s Q1 2025 All-Hands meeting.

Cybercab Potential

While the Model Y and Model 3 are already high-volume vehicles, Tesla expects to produce vastly more Cybercabs per year. During the Q3 2024 earnings call, the CEO explained that Tesla is aiming to produce at least 2 million Cybercabs annually

At 2 million units per year, Musk noted that the Cybercab will be produced in more than one factory. In 2026, however, expectations are high that the Cybercab will be produced in Gigafactory Texas

One Cybercab every 5 Seconds

Tesla has highlighted in its Q4 2024 Update letter that the Cybercab will be produced using the company’s revolutionary “unboxed” process, which is optimized for speed and efficiency. Musk highlighted this during the Q1 2025 All-Hands meeting, when he stated that the Cybercab’s lines don’t even look like a regular automotive production line. 

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“We do want to scale up production to new heights obviously with the Cybercab. Cybercab is not just revolutionary car design. It’s also a revolutionary manufacturing process. So I guess we probably don’t talk about that enough, but if you’ve seen the design of the Cybercab line, it doesn’t look like a normal car manufacturing line. It looks like a really high-speed consumer electronics line. 

“In fact, the line will move so fast that that actually people can’t even get close to it. I think it’ll be able to produce a car ultimately in less than 5 seconds. Can you imagine a car coming off the line in less than 5 seconds? That’s like, ‘Whoa.’ Which means casting’s got to happen fast. I mean we got to jam the the liquid metal in and cool it down real fast,” Musk said.

The Limits of Casting

Hitting an insane target such as one Cybercab every 5 seconds would require Tesla to completely rethink vehicle production. During the All-Hands meeting, Musk noted that Tesla would probably require even larger casting machines that would be capable of producing multiple components at once. Overall, the CEO seemed excited about the idea, as he noted that it would be fun to see just how big casting machines could be.

“I guess maybe we need to just get even bigger casting machines? Sure why not, you know, I’m down. 50,000 tons. Cause then we could do like five at a time or something. I’m trying to think like how do you scale castings, because you got liquid metal, metal’s got to cool, and you’ve got to automate getting all the bits and pieces off the casting so it’s usable?

“And that’s actually kind of how they do it in small-volume castings. They have a casting block that’ll make, you know, 100 Matchbox cars at a time. Maybe we can just make that real big. I mean, we have the Cathedral of Castings back there. So yeah, let’s do that. I mean, let’s see what is the limit of physics of how big can a casting machine be. Let’s find out. I’m down. Let’s have some fun here, push the limits of technology,” Musk stated.

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