Tesla adds 1,000 jobs and targets 7,500 cars per week at its German gigafactory

Production ramp-up and hiring

Tesla announced on 25 June that it will increase weekly production at its Grünheide plant to 7,500 cars from October, a 20% rise over the 6,200-car target already set for July. To reach that volume, the company will add 1,000 new employees in vehicle manufacturing, on top of the 1,000 hires announced in April for the first ramp-up. A company spokeswoman told N-tv that about 700 of those April hires have already been recruited and recruitment will continue through July.

Alongside car assembly, Tesla is investing roughly 220 million euro ($250 million) in battery cell production at the site, aiming for an annual capacity of 18 gigawatt-hours. That expansion will bring 1,500 additional jobs, raising the total new positions at the factory to 3,500 in the short to medium term. Once fully staffed, vehicle manufacturing would employ around 12,700 people, according to Tesla, up from the more than 11,000 currently working there.

“Together with the hiring of 1,500 employees for the battery cell ramp-up, we are talking about 3,500 additional jobs that will be created in vehicle and battery manufacturing at the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg in the short and medium term.”

Sales recovery

The expansion follows a sharp sales recovery. In May 2026, 5,111 Tesla vehicles were registered in Germany, a 322% jump compared with the same month a year earlier, and the brand captured a 2.1% market share, data from the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt showed. The company had suffered a sales slump the previous year, but orders for the Model Y, which is built at Grünheide, have rebounded.

Political backing

Brandenburg’s minister-president, Dietmar Woidke (SPD), welcomed the hiring plans. “Tesla in Brandenburg is and remains a success story,” he said. “Contrary to the general trend in the automotive industry, the company is investing in the site and creating a large number of additional jobs in Brandenburg.”

“Tesla in Brandenburg is and remains a success story.”

Labour concerns

IG Metall, the German metalworkers’ union, has little presence in the factory, and Spiegel reported that management has used questionable methods to keep it that way. Worker representatives and the union have also cited serious health and safety failings, including a high rate of severe workplace accidents, which Tesla disputes. The criticism has not slowed the ramp-up, which the company says reflects demand and the site’s strategic importance as its only European car plant.