American EV giant Tesla is aiming big and celebrating big milestones this week as the company seeks to double vehicle sales in Germany to 80,000 by the year’s end.
An unnamed Tesla site manager speaking to German automotive outlet Automobilwoche explained that Tesla’s “goal is to double sales every year, so we would be around 80,000 units by 2022.”
Having sold 39,714 units in Germany in 2021 and 24,734 over the first eight months of 2022, reaching 80,000 units might seem something of a stretch at this late stage of the year, and given the current global geopolitical and economic pressures.
Considering, however, that Tesla was finally able to begin production at its Berlin gigafactory earlier this year, and the ramp-up of production of the Model Y is reportedly going “very well”, it’s anyone’s guess what level of sales Tesla will be able to accomplish by the time we ring in the new year.
We do know, though, that demand for the Tesla Model Y in Germany remains strong, with recent German sales figures for August showing the Model Y well and truly leading the way for plug-in electric vehicles.
According to José Pontes from the EV Sales blog and CleanTechnica, the Tesla Model Y recorded an impressive 4,216 registrations in August in Germany, ensuring it was the best-selling EV in Germany ahead of the Ford Kuga PHEV which only recorded sales of 2,220.
Travelling further west and across the Atlantic, Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas celebrated another Model Y milestone as it produced its 10,000th Model Y.
10,000 Model Ys built at Giga Texas to date pic.twitter.com/4cOlnpCRa0
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 17, 2022
What this means for production numbers at Gigafactory Texas is anybody’s guess, given that Tesla barely wants to report milestones except for the occasional Tweet, let alone actually publish production numbers.
However, given that Gigafactory Texas only officially began production in April – production which would have slowly moved up through the gears of a traditional ramp-up – having hit 10,000 only 23 weeks later bodes well for the company.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.