Tesla Stock Slips. EV Gigafactory Hit by Fire: Report.

The Tesla gigafactory near Grünheide in Germany. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Tesla stock s lipped on Thursday. The electric-vehicle maker closed parts of its gigafactory in Germany since Monday after a fire broke out, according to a report.

Employees were evacuated from the battery-pack manufacturing part of its factory near Grünheide, just outside Berlin, and parts of the premises remain cordoned off, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported Thursday, citing a local government spokeswoman. Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shares didn’t react much to Thursday’s news. They closed down 1.2% at $320.11 on a relatively weak day for the stock market. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.3%. It was the third consecutive decline for Tesla shares.

This isn’t the first time a fire has broken out near the German gigafactory. In March 2024, Tesla halted production at the plant after an arson attack on an electricity pylon. Left-wing extremists named the Volcano Group claimed responsibility, citing the damage from “killer cars and monster trucks,” MarketWatch noted.

Separately, hundreds of environmental protesters clashed with police at the site last year over plans to expand the factory. Protesters were concerned with local water use and deforestation.

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Tesla opened the Grünheide factory in March 2022, as its first manufacturing hub in Europe. In March 2025, the company said it had manufactured 500,000 vehicles at the site since it opened.

Tesla’s Europe-wide sales plunged 33% year over year in the first half of 2025, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. German sales dropped 58% in the first half of 2025, to about 9,000 vehicles, according to Germany’s KBA. Sales in the country of rival Chinese EV maker BYD ‘s vehicles grew 418% over the same span to about 6,200 cars.

Global sales fell about 13% year over year. The slump has stoked investors’ fears that CEO Elon Musk’s political activities may be putting off some buyers.

Coming into Thursday trading, Tesla stock was down about 20% so far this year, but up about 45% over the past 12 months. Investors have been less focused on vehicle sales and more focused on the potential of self-driving cars to generate shareholder value. Tesla launched a robo-taxi service in Austin, Texas on June 22.

Investors did get some good news on Thursday, though: Tesla stock cracked Goldman Sachs’ “Hedge Fund VIP” list for the first time since 2022. The analysis is based on 13-F filings to find the positions that appear most frequently among the top 10 holdings of hedge fund portfolios.

The top holdings are mainly large technology companies, including Amazon.com, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Alphabet. Tesla was 30th on the list with 17 funds having shares as a top 10 holding.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com