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.
“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.
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