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By Ishika Dangayach, 3:20 PM ET
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, hopes that the first cars will rolloff the assembly line at the Tesla Gigafactory in Germany in October.
On a visit to the factory in Grünheide, near Berlin, onFriday, Muk said, “We’re looking forward to hopefully getting the approval tomake the first cars maybe in October if we are fortunate,” Reuters reported.
Tesla has pushed back the gigafactory's anticipated launchdate to late 2021, blaming German bureaucratic roadblocks. Due to environmentalissues, the facility has also faced local public opposition.
Armin Laschet, the candidate of the center-right Union groupto succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor in next month's election, thanked Muskfor his investment in Germany, AP reported.
However, the environmental regulator in Brandenburg has yetto issue final permission, implying that a further delay, maybe until 2022,cannot be ruled out.
According to the German news agency dpa, Laschet proposedchanging German legislation to make it more difficult for those who were notdirectly impacted by the factory's development to register legal complaintsagainst it.
Tesla has received opposition about the plant's location,which partially overlaps a drinking water protection zone and borders a naturalreserve.
“This region has so much water, look around you,” Musk saidat the factory when asked about the water concerns, Reuters quoted. “It’s likewater everywhere here. Does this seem like a desert to you?” he asked,laughing. “It rains a lot.”
Later, he tweeted that he will be conducting a tour of thefactory to residents and the larger community.
“Giga Berlin-Brandenburg County fair & factory tour on 9October!” he tweeted. “Priority for residents of Brandenburg & Berlin, butalso open to the general public”.
The news came just the day after, Musk labeled two-chipproducers as most problematic due to supply concerns with criticalcomponents needed in the company's electric vehicles.
The automaker's CEO turned to Twitter to criticize two of the world's major semiconductor makers, Renesas of Japan and Bosch of Germany.
Meanwhile, In the second quarter earnings company reportedconstraints in production due to the global chip shortage which is worrying theinvestors.
With inputs from Reuters