Brilliant for some, dangerous for others. Opinions differ about Tesla boss Elon Musk. An anecdote from the opening day of his car factory in Grünheide shows how much the 52-year-old can get stuck into something.
He danced, he celebrated and he had important visitors. March 22, 2022 was a day of celebration for Tesla boss Elon Musk. This Tuesday marked the opening of the Gigafactory, as the car manufacturer calls its factories, in Grünheide in Berlin.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had announced his presence, as had Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) and Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens). The factory on the outskirts of Berlin was built in just two years – despite all the protests, including concerns about groundwater in the region.
“Elon Musk marches at his own pace”
But the schedule for the ceremonial starting signal for electric car production in Brandenburg was apparently almost seriously shaken, Elon Musk biographer Walter Isaacson recently revealed in an interview with the news portal “T-Online”. The reason for the near delay was the Tesla boss himself, the writer reported. “Musk was two hours late after all, everything was delayed because of that. Why?” Isaacson gave his own answer: “Because Musk was playing a video game in the back room. He was just completely focused on it. Eventually they had to drag him out.”
Southeast of Berlin
“Giga” in Grünheide: This is Tesla’s car factory in Brandenburg
For the biographer, the anecdote is evidence of how much Musk can concentrate on one thing. “I myself have repeatedly observed Musk in his everyday life; he sometimes has ten or twelve meetings a day,” says Isaacson. “Each time he focuses on a certain aspect. Be it a problem with the engine of a SpaceX rocket or a problem with the paint on a Tesla model. Or posting videos on X. Of course, things happen at the same time in his Empire other things. But that doesn’t matter to Musk, he marches at his own pace.”
Ultimately, as of March 22, 2022, there were no reports of major delays to the opening ceremony. On the same day, the first “Model Y” car symbolically rolled off the assembly line of the new car factory in Grünheide. In the meantime, production has been ramped up to around 5,000 vehicles per week.
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More about Tesla: This Thursday at 10:35 p.m. the new television magazine “stern Investigativ.” starts on RTL, which you can then also access on RTL+. On the same evening, stern presents the serial “stern Investigative.” podcast for the first time – on RTL+ and stern.de as well as everywhere where podcasts are available
Source: Stern
