Automotive News Europe — 2024-03-14
Automotive Industry
The cheap EV will initially start production in 2025 at Tesla's Texas factory.
Tesla will build its entry-level all-electric car in its European factory near Berlin, CEO Elon Musk told employees during a visit to the plant.
The factory could also add production of the automaker's electric Semi heavy duty truck, Musk also said.
Tesla's affordable electric car will "definitely come to Berlin in the long term," Musk said during his visit to the factory on Wednesday, 13 March 2024, according to the German business newspaper Handelsblatt.
Musk said in January 2024 that Tesla expects to start production of its next-generation EV at its Texas factory in 2025.
The sub-$25,000 car, which is expected to be called the Model 2, would allow Tesla to compete with a growing number of inexpensive EVs, such as those made by China's BYD.
During the Berlin factory visit, Musk told workers that it would also make sense to build the Semi truck in Berlin, Handelsblatt said.
The truck is currently built in Nevada in the US.
Musk visited the automaker's factory in Gruenheide near Berlin on Wednesday, 13 Marche 2024, after operations had resumed following an arson attack on a nearby electricity pylon that led to a costly power outage that halted production.