Tesla plans to hire 1,000 new employees at its Grünheide plant in Germany, as demand for its Model Y SUV — the only model it produces in Europe — surges across the continent.

“The management of the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg announced today that it will create 1,000 new jobs by the end of June,” Tesla told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) on Wednesday.

The new hires will allow the company to “increase weekly production by around 20% starting in the third quarter.”

Initial hires are planned as early as May, with Tesla further stating that the move is “a direct response to the increased demand for the Model Y.”

Tesla also said it expects to convert approximately 500 temporary workers to permanent, full-time roles over the course of the year.

The hiring announcement marks the latest step in a production ramp that plant manager André Thierig has been signaling for months.

At the end of 2025, Thierig told DPA that output at Grünheide rose in every quarter of the year, adding that this “gives us a positive outlook for the new year, and we expect further growth.”

Earlier this year, Thierig pushed back against reports of lower-than-expected output.

He stated on LinkedIn that production exceeded 200,000 vehicles in 2025, “despite the fact that in the first quarter we paused production for the switchover to the new Model Y and then ramped back up to 5,000 units per week over several weeks.”

He added that the factory has built more than 700,000 Model Y units since production began in 2022.

The Grünheide plant employed around 12,400 people just over two years ago before reductions were made amid softer market conditions.

The current hiring push partially reverses that decline.

Separately, Tesla has begun recruiting several hundred additional employees for battery cell production at the site.

Thierig has said the company is investing nearly €100 million in the cell factory, which is expected to come online in the first half of 2027.

According to the plant manager, Tesla has invested more than €5 billion in Grünheide since 2020.

Tesla‘s vehicle registrations across Europe have jumped sharply in the first quarter.

Data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) shows Tesla registered 52,600 battery-electric vehicles across Europe — including the EU, EFTA, and UK — in March.

The figures marked an 84.3% increase from the 28,544 units recorded a year earlier. Through the end of March, year-to-date registrations were up 44.9%.

Preliminary data compiled by EV showed similar trends, with particularly sharp gains in individual markets.

Registrations quadrupled in Germany and rose roughly 20% in the UK in March, driven largely by renewed interest in the refreshed Model Y.

In Germany specifically, Tesla has continued to grow its share of private household registrations even as competitors lean heavily on fleet channels to move EV inventory.

Earlier this week, EV reported that the company raised Model Y prices by €1,000 across key European markets — a move widely interpreted as a signal that demand is outpacing available supply.

That pricing confidence tracks with the production ramp Tesla is now putting in motion at Grünheide.

The expansion comes against a backdrop of unresolved labor tensions.

Tesla‘s Grünheide plant operates without a collective bargaining agreement, and IG Metall has pushed for stronger worker representation.

A union-independent list won the March 2026 works council election, a result Thierig described as “a clear signal from our workforce, who have opted for union-independent co-determination.”

IG Metall has since filed a legal challenge against the election result, alleging improper management influence.

A German union worker was also recently cleared of charges related to an alleged recording incident at the factory, a case that drew attention to broader organizing friction at the site.

CEO Elon Musk has said he wants to make the Berlin-Brandenburg site “probably the largest factory complex in Europe.”

Expansion plans had stalled during a period of weaker global demand, partly triggered by the expiry of a US federal EV tax incentive.

Tesla‘s global deliveries fell significantly after that policy change.

The company has since shifted emphasis toward robotics and autonomous driving.

Tesla expects its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software to receive EU-wide approval in the coming months, after it rolled out to customers in the Netherlands earlier this month — following the EU-type approval by Dutch regulator RDW.