Tesla Motors Electric Carmaker Opens First EU Plant

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The US electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors has opened its first European plant in the Netherlands, US media reported Friday.

The automaker’s new factory in the Dutch municipality of Tilburg aims to “help European customers get cars faster,” The Financial Times quote Tesla chief executive Elon Musk as saying.

Musk has said this year the company was planning to ramp up its production and sales by as much as half a million cars by 2020. Tesla manufactured around 35,000 of its Model S electric sports sedans in 2014.

The plant in Tilburg in the southern province of Noord-Brabant aims to make some 450 cars every seven days with weekly production capacity up to 1,000, the publication adds.

Musk was further cited as saying the new factory has “room for growth and expansion,” and more Tesla plants are likely to appear in Europe “probably at the beginning of next year.”

The United States accounts for over half of Tesla’s sales, with Europe cornering up to a third and China slightly over 10 percent, according to analyst estimates. Model S is the company’s second make after the Roadster first unveiled in 2008.

This year, the loss-making electric car manufacturer plans to release a Model X sports utility vehicle.