Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is eyeing up a move to double production at its Berlin plant in Germany as Elon Musk’s firm looks to continue prioritise volumes over margins.
Local environmental ministry and water authority documents published on Wednesday revealed a host of planned changes to the electric vehicle and battery plant.
Subject to approval, these would see new areas built for testing battery cells, mixing materials and “all other processes” for anode and cathode production.
Tesla has previously said it aims to produce a million cars a year at the Berlin site, which would take it past Volkswagen Group (XETRA:VOW)'s Wolfsburg factory as Europe’s largest.
The proposals come as Musk hinted the carmaker would continue to place volumes over margins during Wednesday’s second-quarter earnings call.
“I think it makes it does make sense to sacrifice margins in favour of making more vehicles,” Musk said, suggesting further price cuts could well be in the pipeline.
“We're in, I would call it, turbulent times,” he added, reflected by the company’s repeated moves to slash electric vehicle prices this year to boost demand.
“The prioritization of sales over margins is clearly working,” Oanda Craig Erlam analyst commented following the results, which saw Tesla post a 47% rise in revenue to US$24.9bn.
Tesla’s gross margin fall to 18.2%, from 19.3% in the first quarter, simply proves Musk’s bid “to shield the company from higher interest rates and cost-of-living pressures,” he added.
However, investors were less convinced, with shares in the company falling 4% in after-hours trading.