The US electric car manufacturer Tesla is aiming for its car factory in Grünheide near Berlin despite the difficult market situation Germany a further increase in production in 2026. Tesla was able to further increase production in every quarter of the past year – as planned, said plant manager André Thierig to the German Press Agency.
“We are also looking positively into the new year and are expecting further increases.” According to the company, around 11,000 employees produce a good 5,000 vehicles per week at the factory in Brandenburg, which is around 250,000 vehicles per year.
“We were able to secure jobs here and were never affected by production shutdowns or job cuts like other industrial locations in Germany,” said the plant manager. The location will also be expanded further in 2025 with substantial investments not only in the start-up of the models. A new building was built for pre-production vehicles.
Canada is important for Grünheide
The plant manager described the current situation as “stable”. “We are of course continuously monitoring this and will then adjust the markets and production accordingly,” said Thierig. “Canada has been added as a market.” Canadian customers could buy the vehicles from Grünheide cheaper because the higher US import duties do not apply.
The automotive industry worldwide is in a profitability crisis. The electric car market has picked up again in Germany, but it remains difficult for Tesla there: 17,358 Tesla cars were newly registered from January to November 2025, reported the Federal Motor Transport Authority. That was a decrease of around 48 percent compared to the same period last year.
However, Tesla supplies more than 30 markets from Grünheide in Brandenburg and is therefore less susceptible to crises. Tesla boss’s only European electric car factory Elon Musk (54) officially began production in 2022.
Partial approval received for factory expansion
While US President Donald Trump (79) has one Electric carbonus of $7,500 expired, the federal government wants to support households primarily with small and medium incomes in purchasing and leasing electric cars. The plant manager thinks this makes sense, but insists on speeding things up.
“In our opinion, it is important that the announcement is implemented very quickly so that consumers really know what exactly is coming and when it is coming,” said Thierig. However, according to plans by the EU Commission, cars with combustion engines should also be able to be newly registered after 2035.
The car manufacturer is still keeping an eye on the planned expansion of the factory. “We have already received the first partial approval for expanding production capacity,” said the plant manager. “We have not yet submitted the application for the second partial approval.” Preparations were underway for this. The step will take place when the decision-makers in the USA decide to expand the factory. To the north of the factory, the Fangschleuse train station is currently being relocated and a new country road is being built.
In mid-December, the US electric car manufacturer announced that it wanted to create the conditions for the production of complete battery cells in Germany. It is expected that from 2027 onwards, up to eight gigawatt hours of battery cells will be produced per year.
Environmentalists have great concerns because the factory is partly located in a water protection area. Tesla rejects the concerns and points, among other things, to falling water consumption. All production wastewater has been recycled for more than a year. This means that significantly less water is used than in previous years, according to the plant manager.