After Tesla’s sales in Europe took a nosedive last year, the company appears to be making a comeback on the continent. While it appeared that Elon Musk’s political maneuvering had soured buyers’ appetites across the pond, time heals all wounds. Tesla said Thursday it plans to hire 1,000 new workers at its Gigafactory near Berlin as part of a push to increase production to 7,500 vehicles per week by October, Electrek reports. The news arrives just months after Tesla announced a previous round of 1,000 new jobs at the plant and said it planned to increase production to 6,000 vehicles per week by the end of June. Electrek points out that this production boost would put Tesla’s German factory on track to produce around 390,000 EVs per year. That is still below the 500,000 cars per year Tesla was targeting when it opened the facility in 2022.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Like in the United States, Elon Musk’s hardcore conservative politics, direct involvement in DOGE, and personal ties to President Donald Trump hurt 2025 sales in Europe.
At the time, Trump was threatening to take over Greenland and followed through on his promise to impose various tariffs on the continent. Meanwhile, Musk promoted far-right and anti-immigrant movements in Europe, including Germany’s AfD party. More recently, Musk was accused of inciting violence with posts related to violent anti-immigrant demonstrations in Belfast. But sales now appear to be moving in the other direction, driven by rising fuel costs and new government incentives for zero-emission vehicles in Germany.
