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German officials weigh in on Tesla’s Europe Gigafactory following Musk’s Berlin reveal

Tesla factory in Tilburg, Netherlands. (Credit: Tesla)

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Following Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s announcement of Berlin being chosen as Gigafactory 4’s official home at the Golden Steering Wheel Awards on November 12, a number of German officials have voiced their support regarding the decision to produce the company’s next electric vehicles at a plant in the European country.

Tesla was considering multiple European locations for its newest Gigafactory but ended up choosing Germany over the United Kingdom due to the uncertainty in regards to Brexit, the UK’s plan to remove itself from the European Union. The deadline for Brexit has been extended three different times, with the current date being January 31, 2020.

Tesla and Musk observed the uncertainty around the UK’s withdrawal as a potential hurdle and decided to build the factory that will produce the Model 3 and Model Y in the Berlin area. “Brexit [uncertainty] made it too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK,” Musk said in an interview with Auto Express.

Tesla also plans to build a Research and Development hub near Gigafactory 4. “Some of the best cars in the world are made in Germany. Everyone knows that German engineering is outstanding, for sure, and that’s part of the reason why we are locating our Gigafactory Europe in Germany. We are also going to create an engineering and design center in Berlin,” Musk added.

An “updated” photo of Gigafactory Europe, presented during Tesla’s 2019 Annual Shareholder Meeting. | Image: Tesla

Musk’s announcement attracted plenty of attention from members of Germany’s government, including Economy Prime Minister Peter Altmaier, who spoke about possible subsidies for Tesla as a result of Gigafactory 4. “Subsidies have not yet been discussed. It’s clear that Tesla – if it invests in Germany and creates jobs here, will be treated like all other companies in the automobile and automotive industry,” he said to the media. “That means we will treat all players who invest in Germany equally and without discrimination.”

Numerous governments across the world have worked with Tesla to award subsidies to those who choose to buy products from the company. Australia has become increasingly supportive of the sustainable energy movement, offering incentives not only with the purchase of electric vehicles but also with Tesla’s energy storage products.

Tesla will receive support from Germany under the rules of the European Union. Dietmar Woidke, Premier of Brandenberg, the state that surrounds Berlin, said Tesla would get all the help German government officials could offer, given that it falls under the rules of the EU.

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“We’re operating within the framework of the European Union’s state aid rules. That applies to all European countries – that’s our framework. We will, of course, do our part to create good conditions for Tesla within these possibilities,” Woidke said.

Tesla Model Y spotted in the wild. (Credit: The_Xenocide/Reddit)

Governments offering Tesla support is an embrace into the future of sustainable energy. While Tesla has officially announced they will bring vehicle production to Germany, the officials in the country appear to be welcoming it with open arms. This bodes well for the American electric car maker.

The company can help Germany achieve the CO2 targets set in by the European parliament and even the CEO of Volkswagen, Herbert Diess, recognized this by stating Musk and Tesla are pioneers of environmental sustainability. I would say that we share a vision, which is that we only can achieve the CO2 targets and reduce carbon emissions through electric cars,” Diess said during the Golden Steering Wheel Awards.

After Musk accepted and thanked the hosts for the Golden Steering Wheel Award, he said, “I actually an announcement, which hopefully will be well received: We’ve decided to put Tesla Gigafactory Europe in the Berlin area.” Musk’s unveiling of this idea was followed by applause from those in attendance. Musk followed up with, “I come to Berlin a lot. Berlin rocks!”

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Why automakers keep turning down Elon Musk’s Tesla Full Self-Driving offer

Elon Musk confirms no automaker has ever accepted Tesla’s offer to license Full Self-Driving software.

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Elon Musk gave a brief answer on X Monday that confirmed that Tesla’s standing offer to license Full Self-Driving to other automakers still has zero takers. Sawyer Merritt wrote that “Tesla has for years openly invited other automakers to license FSD. None of them have accepted,” responding to a prediction from Boom Supersonic founder Blake Scholl that Tesla would eventually open FSD the way it opened its Supercharger network to rival brands. Musk’s reply to Merritt was one word: “Exactly.”

It is not the first time Musk has made this point. He said something similar in November, when he called legacy automakers reluctance to adopt FSD “crazy,” and Tesla has floated the offer publicly since at least 2021. Scholl’s prediction touches on something real. Once NACS became the de facto charging standard, adoption from Ford, GM, Rivian and others followed within about a year. FSD licensing was supposed to work the same way once Tesla built enough of a lead that switching made sense for everyone.

The case for licensing now is stronger than it was two years ago. Waymo and Zoox are logging hundreds of thousands of unsupervised autonomous miles, along with Tesla’s own Robotaxi fleet. Every automaker still selling driver assist systems that lag FSD has given the robotaxi conversation to Tesla, Waymo and Zoox by default. Licensing FSD would let a GM or a Ford compete on the same field without spending a decade and billions of dollars building a stack from scratch, the same argument Tesla made when it opened the Supercharger network to bring more EVs onto its chargers.

But FSD is not a connector standard. As one reply to Musk’s post pointed out, licensing FSD is not a software license the way NACS was a plug spec. It requires adopting Tesla’s eight camera layout and its onboard compute architecture, meaning a licensee’s cars would effectively become Tesla hardware wearing someone else’s badge. That is the visible obstacle. The less visible one is data. A licensed FSD stack would report back the same telemetry Tesla collects from its own fleet, giving Tesla a continuous read on how a competitor’s cars are actually driven, where they struggle, and how often drivers intervene. For an automaker trying to build its own autonomy program, or simply trying to keep its build quality and safety record private, handing Tesla that visibility could be a bigger cost than the hardware bill. It is the reason the Supercharger comparison only goes so far. Opening a charging plug cost Tesla very little. Opening FSD would cost a rival something it cannot get back.

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Tesla Roadster is available for order once again following brief hold

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(Credit: luxunsheep/Instagram)

Tesla has reopened reservations for its long-delayed next-generation Roadster, asking buyers for a $50,000 deposit just days before an October 1 reveal event in Waco, Texas. The move revives a reservation process first launched in 2017 and later paused when Tesla pulled pricing from its website in 2021.

The reservation page requires an immediate $5,000 credit-card payment, described as fully refundable, followed by a $45,000 wire transfer due within 10 days, which is identical to what was expected previously. Reservations are not considered final until the wire clears.

The structure matches the 2017 terms Tesla used when it first collected deposits after unveiling a prototype. Tesla has not published a confirmed retail price or production start date on the order page.

The October 1 event is scheduled in Waco, about 90 minutes north of Tesla’s Austin headquarters and near SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test site. Tesla sent invitations to existing reservation holders and posted a “Go for launch” teaser on September 12.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established a temporary flight restriction over the McGregor area from September 18 through October 2, consistent with plans for a demonstration involving SpaceX-designed cold-gas thrusters. Elon Musk has previously described the optional package as enabling extreme acceleration or brief hovering. Tesla has said the event will include pricing, specifications, and production targets.

The second-generation Roadster was first shown in November 2017 during Tesla’s Semi launch. Musk promised production in 2020, with claimed performance of 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, more than 250 mph top speed, and roughly 620 miles of range.

Those targets have slipped repeatedly.

Tesla later pointed to 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025-2026 before indicating production would not begin until 2027 or 2028 at Gigafactory Texas. Design work has continued, with reports of a sharper, Cybertruck-influenced look replacing the original curvy prototype.

Original reservation holders who paid $50,000 in 2017, or $250,000 for the Founders Series, have waited nearly nine years without a production car. Some high-profile customers canceled. Tesla’s decision to reopen orders now, after previously shutting them down, tests whether new buyers will commit substantial funds before seeing a finalized production vehicle. The October 1 event is intended to answer remaining questions about what those buyers will actually receive and when.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving expands to another European country

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is heading to Czechia after the Czech Ministry of Transport recognised the Dutch RDW’s provisional type approval, making the country the seventh EU member state to clear the system for public roads. Tesla Europe announced on 21 September 2026 that “FSD Supervised is now approved in Czechia” and that rollout “will begin soon.”

The decision marks a notable reversal. Earlier in 2026, Prague had declined to automatically recognise the Netherlands’ April approval, citing concerns over speed-limit compliance, traffic-sign recognition and driver-attention monitoring, and arguing that a coordinated EU approach was preferable. Officials said months of expert review, talks with Tesla and other member states, and real-world data from countries already using the system resolved those issues.

“Safety remains the top priority,” the ministry stated.

FSD Supervised remains a Level 2 driver-assistance system: the driver must stay engaged and is legally responsible. Eligible vehicles need AI4, the company’s most up-to-date hardware version. Tesla is expected to push the feature over the air in the coming days, following the pattern seen after earlier national approvals.

Europe’s rollout began when Dutch regulator RDW issued a provisional EU type approval on 10 April 2026 after extensive testing. Mutual recognition then produced a rapid cascade: Lithuania (20 May), Estonia (29 May), Denmark (9 June), Belgium (10 June) and Slovenia (7 September). Czechia now completes that list of seven.

The approvals cover only a modest share of the EU population, but they add political weight ahead of a 6 October vote by the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles. A qualified majority, at least 15 of 27 member states representing 65 percent of the EU population, could open the remaining markets, including large ones such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain that have so far preferred to wait for a bloc-wide decision.

For Czech Tesla owners, the immediate prize is access to the same supervised highway and city driving already available in the other six countries. For Tesla, each new market generates additional European driving data and strengthens the case that FSD Supervised can operate safely under the continent’s varied road rules. The Czech approval is therefore both a local milestone and another incremental step toward a wider European launch.

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