Elon Musk's announcement that Tesla will build a factory and a research center near Berlin makes perfect sense as a loud statement.
Berlin isn't known as a car city but it does have a vigorous tech scene and Tesla isn't so much a car company as a tech one. But it's also reasonable from other points of view.
Musk, who has spent some time deciding on a European factory location, has decided on Gruenheide in Brandenburg, the German state that surrounds Berlin, and the research facility is to be located near Berlin's yet-to-open new international airport.
That the new factory should be in Germany is logical.
Germany is Europe's biggest market for electric vehicles and the one with the biggest potential. Germany is Europe's most populous country, Germans are in love with cars and worried about the environment, as evidenced by the recent electoral successes of the Greens.
It also matters that Germany is a country with some of Europe's strongest incentives for electric car buyers. It recently decided to increase the maximum subsidy for buyers of battery vehicles to 6,000 euros ($6,600) from 4,000 euros and extend it until 2025.