Tesla quietly cuts 1,700 jobs at Gigafactory Berlin regardless of denying it

A brand new report confirms that Tesla has lowered its workforce at Gigafactory Berlin by roughly 1,700 staff during the last 12 months. The cuts come regardless of the plant supervisor repeatedly denying any workers reductions had been going down.

We now have been reporting on the troublesome state of affairs at Tesla Gigafactory Berlin for some time now. The maths simply hasn’t been including up.

We not too long ago reported on how Tesla Gigafactory Berlin’s days could be numbered because the manufacturing unit appears redundant given Tesla’s present supply numbers in Europe, and administration is threatening a cease in funding if a union takes management of its staff’ council.

Now, a brand new report from the German enterprise newspaper Handelsblatt confirms that the automaker has been quietly downsizing the plant’s workforce considerably, primarily based on figures reported by the employees’ council.

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In response to inside paperwork from the election committee of the Tesla works council, cited by Handelsblatt (German paywall), the variety of staff on the plant has dropped to 10,703.

That may be a decline of roughly 1,700 staff (or practically 14%) in comparison with the 12,415 staff employed on the manufacturing unit over the last works council election in 2024.

The job cuts are significantly notable as a result of André Thierig, the plant supervisor at Giga Berlin, has repeatedly denied that Tesla was decreasing headcount. As not too long ago as final month, Thierig claimed there have been “no plans” for workers reductions, at the same time as manufacturing volumes remained stagnant or declined.

A number of the attrition could possibly be defined by a world wave of layoffs in 2024 that slashed Tesla’s workforce by 10%, nevertheless it appeared to have continued after that.

This quiet culling of the workforce aligns with earlier stories we’ve coated relating to Tesla’s declining gross sales in Europe. The European EV market has turn out to be extremely aggressive with the arrival of extra Chinese language fashions and robust performances from legacy automakers, leaving Tesla with extra manufacturing capability in Germany than it at present wants.

It’s unclear if these reductions had been made by way of layoffs, voluntary buyouts, or just by not renewing non permanent contracts, a typical tactic Tesla makes use of to regulate its workforce with out triggering mass layoff notifications.

Electrek’s Take

That is precisely what we had been afraid of. When you might have a manufacturing unit able to producing 375,000+ automobiles a 12 months however you might be promoting considerably fewer automobiles than that in the complete area, one thing has to provide.

The truth that the plant supervisor denied that Tesla is decreasing its workforce whereas their very own staff’ council information clearly exhibits a 14% discount within the workforce is basic Tesla transparency, or lack thereof.

It provides plenty of weight to the speculation that Giga Berlin is in hassle. If Tesla can’t fill the manufacturing unit’s capability, it’s simply burning money. With the Berlin enlargement already on maintain and now the workforce shrinking, the narrative of “limitless demand” in Europe is formally useless.

The query now could be whether or not Tesla can keep even this decrease stage of employment on the plant, or if we’re seeing the start of a gradual shutdown.

As I reported earlier this month, if IG Metall will get management of the employees council, I wouldn’t be shocked if Tesla makes use of this as a motive to divest from the manufacturing unit.