Giga-casting and robots: How Volkswagen's Trinity aims to catch up with Tesla

FILE PHOTO: A view of the depot tower of German carmaker Volkswagen in Dresden, Germany, June 8, 2021. REUTERS/Matthias Rietschel/

BERLIN (Reuters) - As Tesla kicks off production at its new German plant this month, Volkswagen is weeks away from finalising plans for a 2 billion euro ($2.2 billion) electric vehicle (EV) factory that it hopes will bring it up to speed with its U.S. rival.

Tesla says it can already churn out a Model Y in 10 hours at its new Giga Berlin-Brandenburg factory in Gruenheide near the German capital, whereas it can take Volkswagen three times as long to make its ID.3 electric car.