Volkswagen is planning to loss-making startup Tesla for motivation on the best ways to enhance its core business, the Volkswagen’s chief executive Herbert Diess stated in an interview.
Asked who the automaker’s main competitors are, Diess told an internal business publication: “In the old world it is Toyota, Hyundai, and the French automakers. In the new world it is Tesla.”
Tesla Inc has shocked the car market with its ambition to develop a mass market for electrical automobiles, posing a clear thread to popular automakers, which remain reliant on producing vehicles with combustion engines.
Diess stated the Volkswagen brand, that sold 5,987,800 cars in 2016, is looking to overtake and surpass smaller California-based Tesla, which sold 83,922 cars last year.
“Tesla belongs among the rivals which has capabilities that we presently do not have,” Diess stated with “Inside”, a publication for VW workers.
Around half of Tesla’s engineers are software specialists, where as VW’s core brand it is a much lower percentage, Diess stated. Tesla has excellent electric motors, a quick charging network, autonomous technology, connectivity, and a new approach towards vehicle distribution.
“This reveals that we need to significantly enhance. We can do this. We measure ourselves against Tesla rather deliberately. Our goal: Using our abilities not just to catch up, but even to overtake,” Diess, who owns an electric VW Golf, said.
