Tesla CEO Elon Musk visits Giga Berlin as production resumes following arson attack
Musk visits Tesla's factory in Germany to celebrate it coming back online
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk paid a visit to the electric vehicle giant's German gigafactory in the outskirts of Berlin on Wednesday, celebrating production resuming at the facility after it was offline for a week due to an arson attack on a nearby electric pylon that knocked out power at the plant.
"Thanks to the hard work of the Tesla Giga Berlin team and support from the community, the factory is back online!" Musk announced on his social media platform, X.
Musk visited the facility with one of his children in tow, and put the young boy on his shoulders as he addressed employees at the plant.
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The billionaire, who was pictured wearing a black T-shirt that read "We are (Giga) the future," shouted "Hey, Deutschland rocks! Dig in Berlin for the win!" as he walked out of the factory and got into a car.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is pictured during a visit to the company's electric car plant in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, on March 13, 2024, as employees resumed work after production had to be halted due to a suspected arson attack that caused a power (ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Power was restored to Berlin Giga on Monday, but it was unclear at the time how long it would take for full production to resume at the facility that employs roughly 12,500 staff.
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The outage prevented Tesla from meeting its production goal of around 1,000 cars per day, with the plant head saying the disruption would cost hundreds of millions of euros in damages.
Members of the media stand outside the building of Tesla's production plant in Gruenheide outside Berlin, Germany, March 5, 2024, after the site lost power following a suspected arson attack on a nearby pylon. (REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/file photo / Reuters Photos)
A far-left activist group called Vulkangruppe, translated as the Volcano Group, had claimed responsibility for the arson attack on March 5.
The Volcano Group took credit for the arson in a 2,500-word letter attacking Tesla and Musk that was distributed to local media. Police said they were aware of the letter, which was signed "Agua De Pau," the name of a volcanic mountain in the Azores, and said they were checking its authenticity.
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"We sabotaged Tesla," the Agua De Pau letter stated, according to Reuters. The letter described the attack as a gift for International Women's Day on March 8.
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| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 168.29 | -1.89 | -1.11% |
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"Tesla consumes earth, resources, people, workers, and in return spits out 6,000 SUVs, killer cars and monster trucks each week," it stated.
Musk ripped the arson attack in several posts on X last week.
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"These are either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they're puppets of those who don't have good environmental goals," Musk wrote.
"Stopping production of electric vehicles, rather than fossil fuel vehicles, ist extrem dumm," he said, using the German words for "extremely dumb."
FOX Business' Chris Pandolfo and Reuters contributed to this report.