Tesla's Berlin factory had hoped to start producing vehicles last year, but after several delays, the complex and lengthy German bureaucracy still delayed the issuance of final approval documents.
While the delay has a positive side, Tesla can build a batch of test vehicles in the waiting production to allow Tesla to fine-tune their production process to ensure that production can proceed more smoothly after approval.
By march 2022, the Berlin plant had produced more than 1,000 Model Ys, and the 1,000th off the production line was the Model Y Performance, equipped with 21-inch Uberturbine wheels painted in pure black paint, very similar to the hundreds of cars found outside the factory in recent weeks, according to a recent VIN photo.
While the 1,000 vehicles are only half of the number of cars Tesla is currently licensed to produce (Tesla was approved to build 2,000 test cars at its Berlin factory on Jan. 8), we obviously don't know when our European customers will finally get the Model Y made in Germany. While Tesla had previously hoped that production would start in March, over time, and with the problem of water supply in the factory, it became less and less likely that this would happen.