There always seemed to be a good relationship between the CEO of Volkswagen, the largest European group and the second in the world, and his colleague from Tesla. The German Herbert Diess recognized Tesla’s contribution to the promotion of electric vehicles, for having shown that they could be sexy, powerful and exciting, which encouraged its acquisition. For his part, Elon Musk has always applauded the effort that Volkswagen has made to rapidly advance electric mobility, especially saluting Herbert Diess for leading the manufacturer that has invested the most in dedicated platforms and in specific factories for battery-powered models.
The good relationship between the two managers has already resulted in the transfer of their electric vehicles for testing. But he didn’t stop there: Diess even challenged Musk to address Volkswagen staff at an annual meeting, advising a strategy to optimize process efficiency leading to more competitive battery-powered models. Now, the “boss” of VW – who has already promised his shareholders that he will overtake Tesla in the manufacture of streetcars by 2024 – has come out publicly to comment on the problems that the Musk brand will face when playing on various boards. at the same time.
The CEO of VW pointed out that the strategy of building a factory in Berlin, a second in Texas (both with a potential of 500,000 units/year with two models), in addition to doubling the production capacity of the Chinese factory (which thus jumps to 1 million units/year) is too risky. Diess even predicts that investments in these three factories could weaken Tesla, depleting its financial means.
On the other hand, the German manager anticipates that the current shortage of materials and components, due to the difficulties experienced by suppliers in respecting current contracts, could further affect the production capacity of new models. And Diess knows what he’s talking about, since Volkswagen can’t manufacture the identification number. 3 and ID. 4 that the market could acquire.
Source: Observadora