CAPTION: First cars to be handed over as Tesla launches factory near Berlin. (picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild)
Tesla is to launch its new car factory outside Berlin on Tuesday, as the US electric innovator shakes up Germany's long-standing automotive landscape.
At the opening ceremony, company founder and entrepreneur Elon Musk is expected to hand over the first Model Y vehicles to customers just over two years after construction began.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Economy Minister Robert Habeck are also expected to attend.
"Excited to hand over the first production cars made by Giga Berlin-Brandenburg tomorrow!" Musk tweeted to his 78.7 million Twitter followers on Monday.
The so-called gigafactory, situated in Grünheide in the rural state of Brandenburg, which surrounds the German capital, is the electric car manufacturer's first production site in Europe.
Tesla had hoped to start production last summer, but the state approvals process dragged on, partly because the company decided to add a battery factory to the site, which is still under construction.
Nonetheless, Germans have been impressed by the speed of the project, in a country where major developments can often get bogged down by red tape.
The state of Brandenburg gave the go-ahead for the factory in early March, after Tesla had already clinched a slew of approvals.
While throwing down the gauntlet to Germany's traditional auto giants, who have struggled for years to match the US carmaker's emobility credentials, Tesla's factory is also seen as a major boost for Germany's former east, where employment and wages generally lag behind levels seen in the industrial heartlands in the west.
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