Tesla founder Elon Musk visited his company's new plant under construction in Berlin on Friday where he was joined by the Christian Democratic Union's (CDU) candidate to be Germany's next chancellor, Armin Laschet.
Speaking at a joint briefing outside the so-called 'GigaBerlin', Laschet described the electric automaker's project as "the future" and thanked Musk for investing in Germany.
Musk in return praised the German government for its support in approving the facility, adding he hoped the first cars could roll out of the plant in October.
Tesla's first European gigafactory was meant to open on July 1, but has been delayed until later in the year, with Musk previously blaming German bureaucratic red tape for slowing progress.
Laschet has already succeeded Angela Merkel as leader of the CDU and is bidding to follow her as chancellor after Bundestag elections in September.
But he has experienced a fall in the polls after he was filmed smiling and joking while President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was speaking about Germany's deadly floods.
Musk laughed when a reporter asked him whether he had any suggestions for "injecting energy" into Laschet's election camapign.
He later apologized, saying his laughter was "inappropriate".
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