Tesla plans to hire 1,000 workers at Berlin factory as European demand rebounds

Tesla plans to increase weekly output at its Gigafactory Berlin by 20% to 7,500 vehicles starting in October. The company needs 1,000 additional employees at the Gruenheide facility east of the capital to get there.

Tesla commits to three expansions in three months

This is the third workforce and capacity commitment Tesla has made at the German plant.

In April, the company said it would bring on 1,000 new staff and lift weekly production by about a fifth beginning in Q3, according to Reuters. A month later, Tesla disclosed plans to pour more money into battery cell manufacturing at the same location. Added together, the three rounds of investment will create 3,500 jobs across vehicle assembly and battery production, Tesla said.

The hiring follows a rough 2025 in which Tesla’s European sales slid and the Berlin factory built just over 200,000 vehicles, well short of its listed annual capacity of 375,000 units. In Q1 2026, the plant set an internal record of 61,000 vehicles built. Model Y registrations in Germany quadrupled year-over-year to 9,252 units in March, and France, Denmark, and Sweden posted registration gains above 46%.

Tesla moved 21,767 vehicles across the bloc in May, pushing its market share to 2.3% from 0.9% a year earlier, according to Cryptopolitan’s reporting on European registration data. Battery-electric cars accounted for a fifth of all new EU passenger registrations that month, up from 15.3% in the same period of 2025.

Berlin ramps up as US market cools

The Berlin expansion runs opposite to what’s happening in the US.

According to Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book data, sales of electric vehicles in the United States dropped 27% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, to about 216,400 units. The main reason was that the $7,500 federal tax credit expired in Q3 of 2025, and demand for EVs has not yet returned.

Tesla’s domestic deliveries dropped by more than 8% in the quarter, though the company gained market share as competitors fell faster.

About 11,500 people work at the Gruenheide plant right now. There will be a line for making battery cells in the first half of 2027, which is another reason for Tesla’s management to hire people now.

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