Elon Musk Shares Graffiti On Giga Berlin Walls: Is Tesla European Production Set To Begin? - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla, Inc.'s TSLA Giga Berlin has been a non-starter, primarily due to opposition from local environmental groups.

What Happened: Tesla shared an image of Graffiti art at Giga Berlin on its official Twitter account on Friday, and the tweet was promptly retweeted by its flamboyant CEO Elon Musk. The graffiti is a collage of two paintings, with one showing a man wearing a mask and the other revealing a hand holding a ball extending from a building, on which Giga is written.

The tweets set tongues wagging over the possibility the Giga Berlin plant may soon begin operations. One Twitter user explicitly commented that "Giga Berlin has opened or is about to be opened imminently."

Why It's Important: The start of production at Giga Berlin is very important for augmenting capacity. Tesla is now facing logistics inefficiencies, as it is primarily exporting made-in-China cars for deliveries in Europe.

Tesla officially announced Germany as the location for its European production plant in Nov. 2019. The plant was to be located in Grünheide, a municipality in Brandenburg, about 30 kilometers southeast of Berlin.

Tesla planned to produce batteries, battery packs and powertrains as well as assemble Model Y SUVs at the plant. Construction at the site began in June 2020 and production from the site was initially planned to be started in July 2021.

The start of production, however, has been delayed multiple times due to opposition from environmental groups, who complained about the plant's impact on wildlife and water supplies. Tesla held the Giga Fest to mark the completion of the factory in Oct. 2021.

The necessary permits to commence construction haven't been received yet. Tesla closed Friday's session down 5.26% at $943.90.

Photo: Courtesy of Stephan Lechner on Flickr

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs