Tesla has finally launched its first European manufacturing facility, officially called Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg, in Germany. It is located near Berlin, in the village of Grünheide. On Tuesday, March 22, the first customers received 30 European-built Model Y compact SUVs produced there, Reuters reported.

The Tesla Model Y vehicle will be the main model produced at Giga Berlin. The facility is expected to be able to produce up to 500,000 electric cars a year as well as battery cells. The plant will provide up to 12 thousand jobs.

Hundreds of guests attended the opening of the plant, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany and other officials. Of course, the head of the company Elon Musk was also present.

The construction of Tesla's new facility in Germany began in 2019. The launch of full-scale production at Giga Berlin has been postponed several times due to protests from environmentalists, the pandemic, and supply chain disruptions. Still, the plant was built in record time (less than two years).