Musk expected at Tesla gigafactory's first delivery on March 22 -paper

BERLIN (Reuters) - Tesla Inc aims to deliver the first cars from its long-delayed $5 billion gigafactory near Berlin next Tuesday, Handesblatt business daily reported, adding that local German politicians expect CEO Elon Musk to join the all-day event.

"I expect that Elon Musk will be there on Tuesday," Joerg Steinbach, economy minister in the state of Brandenburg told the paper. "When a gigafactory starts operation, the first cars are handed over in the presence of Elon Musk," he added.

Tesla got a conditional go-ahead for the gigafactory earlier in March, ending months of delay for the plant which was supposed to open last summer and is central to Musk's ambitions to beat European market leader Volkswagen.

Volkswagen currently has a 25% share of electric vehicle (EV) sales in Europe compared to Tesla's 13%.

(Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

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