Motoring: Tesla’s long-delayed German gigafactory gets conditional green light – Gulf Digital News

Motoring: Tesla’s long-delayed German gigafactory gets conditional green light – Gulf Digital News

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) received a conditional go-ahead for its German gigafactory near Berlin on Friday, the state of Brandenburg said, ending months of delay for the 5 billion euro ($5.5 billion) landmark plant.

The gigafactory, which is crucial to Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk's ambitions to vanquish European market leader Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), was initially supposed to open last summer.

Germany's largest automaker has the upper hand in Europe, with a 25% share of electric vehicle (EV) sales to Tesla's 13%.

Brandenburg state premier Dietmar Woidke told a news briefing that the development marked "a big step into the future", adding that the Tesla plant would be a major industrial and technological driver for Germany and the region.

Around 2,600 of the plant's expected 12,000 workers have been hired so far, unions said last month, and Tesla is in talks with numerous parts suppliers in the region to source as much as possible locally, lowering waiting times and costs.

Underlining the intense competition facing Tesla, Volkswagen said on Friday it would spend about 2 billion euros on a new factory near its Wolfsburg headquarters to make the Trinity, the first of a new generation of electric vehicles for the German carmaker, with construction due to