The bottom part of an ID.3 electric vehicle is assembled at Volkswagen’s facilities in Dresden, Germany, on January 29, 2021.
Matthias Rietschel | images alliance | Getty Images
The Volkswagen Group CEO rejected the idea that his company could join forces with Tesla, telling CNBC that the German automotive giant was looking to go its own way.
Speaking to Squawk Box Europe on Tuesday, Herbert Diess was asked if he would rule out any future deal with electric car maker Elon Musk, in which VW could manufacture its cars, or if the Tesla and VW brands would ever would come together.
“No, we don’t consider (that), we are going our own way,” he replied. “We want to get close and then overtake.”
“We think we can – we need our own software stack, our own technology,” he added. “And also, I think Tesla, or Elon, is thinking a lot … (about) his way forward. So, no, there are no conversations between Elon Musk and me about joining forces.”
The shift in focus to electric vehicles comes at a time when authorities around the world are looking to increase the number of low- and zero-emission vehicles on their roads in an attempt to combat air pollution and move away from the engine. internal combustion.
The United Kingdom, for example, has announced plans to stop selling new diesel and gasoline (gasoline) cars and vans from 2030. The European Commission’s “Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy”, in turn, wants at least 30 million zero-emission cars on the roads in 2030.
It is in this scenario that VW and many other major automakers are trying to compete with – and eventually challenge – Elon Musk’s Tesla.
On Monday, VW announced plans to establish six “gigafactories” in Europe by the end of the decade and to increase charging infrastructure in Europe, North America and China.
In front of the battery, the Wolfsburg-based company will also focus on developing a “new unified cell” that is scheduled to be launched in 2023 and used in up to 80% of the group’s electric vehicles by 2030.
In his interview with CNBC, Diess said that the next 15 years will see electric cars taking the lead and software becoming the main driver of the automotive industry. He also predicted that the cars would become autonomous in the same period.
“Managing this change is probably the most important task we face,” he explained. “And we think we are on the way, we are making good progress.”
About the gap between what Tesla and European auto manufacturers are doing, and if that can be bridged, Diess was also optimistic.
“I think so, because you know, the race is open – this is not the industry that you can conquer in a few years or more, this is not technology,” he said.
“So you need life cycles, you need a product, you need factory capabilities, you need a market, you need to win the trust of the customer,” he added.
“So this is a long term and yes, there are some startups that we are watching closely and Tesla is certainly … in the lead in some ways. But we are not that far behind and we are gaining momentum.”