Two years ago, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles faced bankruptcy when the EU threatened to fine it $2 billion because its car fleet's carbon output was too high. "If you miss it by several grams and you have a significant fleet, you are probably talking something in terms of at least a billion in fines that one single company would have to simply pay to the European Union," Hetzner says. Last year, Volkswagen missed its carbon emissions target for its passenger car fleet by just 0.5 grams per kilometer, forcing it to pay the EU a fine worth $121 million. Earlier this month, Germany named Tesla one of 11 companies operating in the country to receive billions of dollars' worth of government subsidies aimed at increasing battery cell production. The new factory isn't the only thing that's come easily for Tesla in Germany. Musk chose Grünheide from other possibilities across Europe for its location - right off the Autobahn, on a train line and near Berlin's new airport - and because building it would be quick: Two decades ago, the town had approved plans for a BMW auto plant that was never built. This is Tesla's fourth Gigafactory - after Reno, Nev., Buffalo, N.Y., and Shanghai - and the company's first in Europe. "Now that we have the opportunity to do so, during a pandemic no less, is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me." "At the end of every fiscal year for 16 years in a row, I've had to apologize for our town's balance sheet and for the fact that we failed to bring high-quality jobs to the region," says Christiani. Tesla's Gigafactory promises to transform the sleepy settlement into one of Europe's largest factory towns, with 40,000 workers, an estimated half of them commuting from Berlin, about 20 miles away. Tesla's market capitalization has skyrocketed to more than $700 billion, more than three times that of Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW - Germany's three largest automakers - put together.īusiness Elon Musk Passes Bill Gates To Become World's 2nd-Richest Person "So we don't have to worry."Īt the time, the value of Tesla's shares was $23 billion, a quarter of that of Germany's largest carmaker, Volkswagen.
"These guys in Silicon Valley, they have no clue about engineering, about building really beautiful and great cars," the CEO told him. Döpfner, the head of German media company Axel Springer, was seated next to a CEO of one of Germany's biggest carmakers, and he turned to him and asked, "Isn't this guy dangerous for you?"Īs he later recounted, the CEO shook his head. Seven years ago, Mathias Döpfner was at a ceremony celebrating Tesla founder Elon Musk. The electric automaker plans to start building cars this summer at its first European production site. A street sign says "Tesla Street 1" in front of the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory near Berlin.
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