Hyperdrive
Merkel’s Would-Be Successor Rubs Elbows With Tesla’s Musk
- Chancellor hopeful Laschet tours plant being built near Berlin
- Tesla CEO says he hopes factory gets final approval in October
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Weeks before Germany goes to the polls, Armin Laschet sought to burnish his credentials with tech-savvy voters by meeting Elon Musk at a new factory rising from a sandy plot near Berlin.
Tesla Inc.’s unfinished facility served as the backdrop Friday for a wavering campaign to be Germany’s next chancellor. Laschet has been falling in the polls, creating an opening for his two main rivals, the Green Party’s Annalena Baerbock and Social Democrat Finance Minister Olaf Scholz.