The Berlin plant will be Tesla's first major production facility in Europe, and its fourth so-called gigafactory – others already operate in Nevada, New York and Shanghai. The term gigafactory was coined by Musk to describe his company's plans for the giant battery factory in Nevada – it's basically a marketing phrase that has taken on a life of its own.

Official Tesla communication on the project is relatively sparse, but it says that "Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg will be the most advanced high-volume electric vehicle production plant in the world."

The first cars are expected to roll off the production line in the summer of 2021, starting with around 3,000 employees. Tesla still plans to open the factory in July despite delays, industry sources told newswire dpa in mid-March. The California-based company says it will launch production with the Model Y, a fully electric, mid-size SUV. Once the initial expansion phase is complete, the factory is set to employ up to 12,000 people, who will produce 500,000 cars per year for the European market, according to Tesla plans. The company aims to invest up to 4 billion euros in the project, according to media reports.

To put these production figures into perspective: The Wolfsburg Volkswagen Factory -- the group's headquarters and "the world's largest single car manufacturing complex" with a surface area of 6.5 km2 --produced just over 700,000 cars in 2018, according to the company. All German carmakers combined made 428,000 electric vehicles in 2020 in the country (fully battery electric and plug-in hybrids combined), and exported 62 percent of them.