The first European factory by car manufacturer Tesla is going to be built in Germany, near Berlin
The announcement has put paid to any chance for Emmen in Drenthe to get the plant. Previously, the Eemshaven in Groningen dropped out of the running.
Earlier this year, Tesla boss Elon Musk said that Germany was the first choice of the company. The manufacturer wants to build a large factory for electric cars and batteries in Europe and had been looking for a suitable location for a long time. Several countries were in the race.
The Northern Netherlands tried to draw Musk in with a fantastically expensive marketing campaign called TopDutch, in which a group of northern entrepreneurs announced the benefits of the region. As reported by the Dagblad van het Noorden earlier this year, Top Dutch had a budget of around 1.2 Million Euros, which has attracted criticism.
The Dutch government had also previously promised to persuade Tesla to establish the mega factory in the Netherlands. Lelystad openly made a shot at hosting the factory, because it would produce a lot of new jobs. Tesla already has a finishing plant in Tilburg and a service workshop.
Image via Flickr user Steve Jurvetson. License here.
