Tesla’s Gigafactory in Germany is achieving record levels in quality, cost efficiency and production volume as the carmaker steps up output of its best-selling Model Y, the company’s finance chief said.
Earlier this month, plant chief André Thierig told the German Press Agency that Tesla has revised production targets “upward for both the third and fourth quarters,” citing a “very good sales situation.”
The comments from the Finance chief come a month after the European plant produced the 100,000th refreshed Model Y.
Tesla’s Giga Berlin began producing the refreshed Model Y on January 14, indicating an average pace of about 450 vehicles a day over the first 223 days.
“Quality, Cost, and Volume [are] achieving records as we leverage the talent of the entire team there alongside the learnings from the past several years,” vice president of finance Sendil Palani wrote on X early Monday.
Describing a visit he made to the site in August, Palani enhanced the flexibility at the Tesla Gigafactory with the recent launches.
“Was able to visit Giga Berlin last month, and witness what the plant can do now that it is really stretching its legs,” the Finance chief wrote.
According to Palani, the plant has repeatedly retooled operations, shifting from a structural battery pack Model Y to a legacy version, and more recently to the new Model Y lineup.
“The factory was originally configured to build the structural pack Model Y, reoriented itself towards the (now) legacy design, and then once again to the New Model Y, including the Performance variant,” he wrote.
The Grünheide facility, Tesla’s only European car factory, passed the milestone of 500,000 Model Y vehicles produced in March, roughly three years after the first SUV rolled off the line.
It currently exports to more than 30 markets, including all of Europe, the Middle East, Taiwan and, as of this month, Canada — where German-made cars are replacing U.S. exports following higher tariffs.
According to Handelsblatt, Tesla is demanding repayment of wages from workers accused of fraudulent sick leave and has warned staff of unannounced home checks.
IG Metall, Germany’s largest union, is pressing the automaker to distribute the full Christmas bonus to all employees and has criticized management over symbolic gestures such as color-coded snack packaging.
In a recent internal email, Thierig said the plant was “well utilized” but added there was “still a group of employees who apparently take no joy in our success.”
Separately, and as it prepares to begin rolling out the highly anticipated Version 14.0 of its (Supervised) Full Self Driving software, the company continues accelerating the deployment of its robotaxi service.
