Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA, ETR:TL0) has temporarily shut down its EV gigafactory at Gruenheide near Berlin after an arson attack.
In an escalation of simmering local discontent about the plant, an electricity pylon was set alight though the fire was contained before it reached the plant itself.
An unconfirmed report by the BZ newspaper said that the fire was started by environmental activists and carried a warning that a bomb had also been planted.
According to Reuters, a far-left militant group known as “Volcano Group” claimed responsibility on a website.
"Tesla consumes earth, resources, people, workers and in return spits out 6,000 SUVs, killer cars and monster trucks each week," said the post.
"If the initial findings are confirmed, this will be a perfidious attack on our electricity infrastructure," Brandenburg state Interior Minister Michael Stuebgen told reporters.
"That will have consequences. Here, thousands of people were cut off from basic services and put in danger," he said, adding that the state would react with the "utmost severity” though he cautioned about speculating over who might have been responsible for the attack.
Residents and environmentalists have been at loggerheads with the car company over plans to expand the plant.
Tesla's plant can produce around 500,000 cars a year but plans to increase this further have run into fierce opposition from locals allied with environmental campaigners who rejected a plan to fell trees to allow the expansion.