Elon Musk sent a pre-recorded video message to Tesla’s 10,700 workers at Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg in Grünheide, warning that the planned expansion of the plant will not happen if IG Metall gains influence in the upcoming works council election.
The threat comes days before the critical vote and amid an escalating conflict between Tesla management and Germany’s most powerful industrial union.
Musk’s warning to Giga Berlin workers
According to German newspaper Handelsblatt, which obtained audio recordings of the video, Musk stopped short of naming IG Metall directly but left no ambiguity about his target. He warned that “things will certainly get more difficult if there are external organizations pushing Tesla in the wrong direction.”
He was more explicit about the consequences: “We will not close the factory, but realistically we will also not expand.”
The pre-recorded discussion was conducted by Grünheide plant manager Andre Thierig alongside Musk in Austin, Texas. On Wednesday, it was played back to workers at the factory in Thierig’s presence. This isn’t the first time Thierig has delivered this message; he told German press agency DPA late last year that he “cannot imagine that the decision makers in the USA will continue to push ahead with the expansion of the factory if the election results are majority in favour of IG Metall.”
The timing is deliberate. Around 10,700 employees at Grünheide will elect a new works council in the coming days. IG Metall is currently the largest faction on the works council but does not hold a majority, as other lists have joined forces against it.
An escalating conflict
The tension between Tesla and IG Metall has been building for months and recently turned into an all-out fight. The union accused Tesla of fostering a “toxic” working environment and filed a defamation complaint against Thierig with the public prosecutor’s office. In response, Tesla filed its own criminal complaint alleging an IG Metall representative secretly recorded a works council meeting, and the company called police to seize the representative’s laptop.
IG Metall called Tesla’s approach “as transparent as it is undemocratic.” The union’s Tesla works council group described the secret recording allegation as “a brazen and calculated lie.”
Tesla also threw what was widely described as a “cringe” anti-union concert for Giga Berlin employees in December, featuring German rapper Kool Savas and a Cybertruck, in what was effectively a rally against IG Metall representation.
The factory Musk doesn’t want to expand is already shrinking
The expansion threat rings hollow when you consider the actual state of Giga Berlin. Tesla has quietly cut roughly 1,700 jobs at the plant over the past year, all while plant manager Thierig denied any staff reductions were taking place.
The factory is capable of producing over 375,000 Model Ys per year, but Tesla sold only about 235,000 vehicles total in Europe in 2025, a 28% decline, including Model 3s imported from China. In Germany specifically, registrations collapsed 48% to just 19,390 units in 2025. The decline has continued into 2026, with Tesla’s EU registrations dropping another 17% in January even as the broader European BEV market grew 14%.
Meanwhile, BYD surged over 1,000% in Germany in January 2026 and nearly doubled its European sales to over 8,700 units — overtaking Tesla in the process. A recent survey found 94% of Germans would not consider buying a Tesla.
Musk dangles future products
During the same video address, Musk attempted to paint a rosier picture by discussing future products for Grünheide. He claimed Tesla has “just started” ramping up battery cell production at the site.
Musk also signaled plans to ramp up Model Y production at the plant, particularly once regulators grant approval for expanded supervised “Full Self-Driving” functions in Europe. Looking further ahead, he pointed to the Tesla Cybercab as the next major product likely to enter production and referenced potential roles for Tesla Optimus and the Tesla Semi.
The CEO has long believed that broader approval of its supervised FSD in Europe would fix its demand issues on the continent, despite an extremely low take-rate in North America, where the features are approved.
Electrek’s Take
The pattern here is transparent. As we asked in January, are Gigafactory Berlin’s days numbered? Musk is positioning IG Metall as the scapegoat for decisions that have nothing to do with the union.
Tesla doesn’t need to expand Giga Berlin. The factory already has vastly more capacity than the European market is demanding, and that gap is growing every month. Sales are in freefall, the workforce is shrinking, and the competition, particularly BYD, is eating into what’s left of Tesla’s European market share.
By threatening to withhold expansion unless workers reject IG Metall, Musk is essentially saying: vote the way I want, or I’ll punish you. IG Metall representative Otto put it well: “As long as sales numbers are going down, Tesla won’t build any factory, not here and not anywhere else.”
The future product promises are classic Musk misdirection. Battery cell production that was supposedly years away is now suddenly “ramping”? Cybercab production at Grünheide? These are the same vague promises Tesla uses to distract from present-day problems. The real question isn’t whether Giga Berlin will expand, it’s whether Tesla can even justify maintaining it at its current scale as European demand continues to crater.
Unfortunately, I don’t see a great scenario playing out regardless of how the vote goes next week. I wish you all the best.
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