Tesla announced an expansion into Europe on Tuesday, acquiring one company and revealing plans to open one or two “gigafactories” in the coming years. The all-electric car company is buying Grohmann Engineering, a German manufacturing specialist, to increase its production capabilities on the continent as it attempts to scale up manufacturing for its mass-market Model 3 car. The Silicon Valley group, which produced fewer than 55,000 units last year, has pledged to make 500,000 cars a year by 2018.
“We want to make Germany, essentially, a part of Tesla,” Elon Musk, chief executive, said on a conference call from Grohmann’s home town of Prüm. “This represents a significant endorsement of German technology.” Tesla declined to give a purchase price for Grohmann but Mr Musk called it “a major investment” that will form the Germany headquarters of Tesla Advanced Automation, with other bases to follow. He said there are plans to add at least 1,000 advanced engineering and skilled technician jobs in the country during the next two years.