Tesla’s Musk dials into Volkswagen govt convention By Reuters

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Tesla (NASDAQ:) boss Elon Musk has addressed 200 Volkswagen (DE:) executives by way of a video name after an invite from the German carmaker’s CEO Herbert Diess, who desires to galvanise VW’s high brass for a quicker pivot to electrical autos.

The feedback on Thursday by Musk to a VW managers gathering in Alpbach, Austria, confirmed by Diess by way of Twitter (NYSE:) https://twitter.com/Herbert_Diess/standing/1449333401048293378 on Saturday after a report in Handelsblatt each day, included reward of VW for being an “icon” and Tesla’s biggest challenger, Handelsblatt mentioned.

The paper mentioned that when requested by Diess why Tesla was extra nimble than its rivals, Musk mentioned it got here all the way down to his administration fashion and that he’s an engineer, to begin with, and has a watch for provide chains, logistics and manufacturing.

In a submit on Linkedin, Diess added that he had introduced in Musk as a “shock visitor” to drive residence the purpose that VW wants quicker choices and fewer paperwork for what he referred to as the most important transformation in VW’s historical past.

“Completely satisfied to listen to that even our strongest competitor thinks that we’ll succeed (in) the transition if we drive the transformation with full energy,” Diess mentioned on Linkedin.

For example of Tesla’s prowess, Diess mentioned it took the rival solely two to 3 weeks to rewrite software program to permit for a change from one kind of microchip, which went out of inventory, to a different.

Diess mentioned in his Saturday tweet that VW, which has emerged as the principle contender to Tesla for international electrical automobile supremacy, would proceed its dialogue with Tesla.

“We’ll go to you quickly in Gruenheide,” the CEO mentioned.

Diess warned final month that the deliberate opening of Tesla’s automobile manufacturing unit at Gruenheide close to Berlin, the corporate’s first in Europe, will drive native business to step up its sport in opposition to the fast-growing U.S. electrical automobile maker.

Tesla is awaiting ultimate constructing approval for the 5.8 billion euro ($6.8 billion) German web site.

VW, in flip, plans to construct six massive battery factories in Europe by 2030 as a part of an all-in guess on electrical mobility.