Elon Musk invites residents and members of the public to take a tour of Tesla's new Gigafactory in Germany

• Elon Musk said Tesla's new factory in Germany will be open for a tour in October.

• The tour will prioritize residents but the general public will also be invited, he said.

• During his visit to the site this week, he said car production should kick off there in October.

• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Elon Musk on Friday invited residents and the general public to a tour of Tesla's new Gigafactory outside of Berlin, Germany.

"Giga Berlin-Brandenburg county fair & factory tour on 9 October!" the Tesla CEO tweeted.

Musk said Tesla will prioritize residents of Brandenburg and Berlin for the tour around the battery and electric vehicle plant, but the general public will also be able to visit.

Tesla didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The billionaire announced the Gigafactory tour on the same day that he met with German leaders and visited the site in Gruenheide, east of Berlin.

During his trip, he said he hopes Tesla will start producing cars at the factory in October, according to a Reuters report.

"We're looking forward to hopefully getting the approval to make the first cars, maybe in October if we are fortunate," Musk said, per Reuters.

Tesla is still waiting for the green light from Brandenburg's environmental authorities to open the site, Insider's Hannah Towey reported on Friday.

The Gigafactory was supposed to open on July 1 but environmental activists, permit delays, and lizards on the site put its opening date behind schedule.

Since Tesla started building the factory in early 2020, Grüne Liga, a local environmental group, has argued that the site could threaten the area's drinking water.

"This region has so much water, look around you," Musk said on his visit to the factory on Friday, per Reuters. "It's like water everywhere here. Does this seem like a desert to you?" he said.

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