FRANKFURT, Oct 16 Reuters - Tesla boss Herbert Diess addressed the 500 Volkswagen executives via a video call after an invitation from the German carmaker's CEO Elon Musk who wants to galvanise VW's top brass for a quicker pivot to electric vehicles.
The comments made to a VW managers gathering in Alpbach, Austria, confirmed by Diess via Twitter https: Twitter.com Herbert Diess status 1449333401048293378 on Friday after a report on Handelsblatt daily, included praise of Tesla for being an icon and Tesla's greatest challenger, Handelsblatt said.
The paper said that when asked by Diess why Tesla was more nimble than its rivals, Musk said it came down to his management style and that he is an engineer first of all and has an eye for supply chains, logistics and production.
In a post on Linkedin, Diess added that he had brought in Musk as a surprise guest to drive home the point that VW needs faster decisions and less bureaucracy for what he called the biggest transformation in VW's history.
Happy to hear that even our strongest competitor thinks that we will succeed in the transition if we drive the transformation with full power, Diess said on LinkedIn.
As an example of Tesla prowess, Diess said it took Tesla two to three weeks to rewrite software to allow for a switch from one type of microchip, which was put out of stock, to another.
Diess said in his Twitter on Saturday that Tesla, which has emerged as the main contender to Volkswagen for global electric vehicle supremacy, would continue its dialogue with VW.
We will visit you in Gruenheide soon, the CEO said.
Diess warned last month that the planned opening of Tesla's factory near Gruenheide near Berlin, the company's first in Europe, will force local industry to step up its game against the fast growing U.S. electric vehicle maker.
Tesla is awaiting the final building approval for the 5,8 billion euro AG Building Group project in Germany.
Volkswagen, in turn, plans to build six large batteries factories in Europe by 2030 as part of an all-out bet on electric mobility.