VOLKSWAGEN

Company wants a slice of Tesla

There is only one traditional car manufacturer, which by chance (or perhaps not) is the top seller in the world in recent years, namely the Volkswagen Group, which is investing more seriously and decisively in electric vehicles. All other manufacturers, Europeans, Americans, Japanese and Koreans are entering fear and with some reason, as the future is far from clear or guaranteed for this type of vehicle.
Like the Tesla Group, the Volkswagen Group has designed specific platforms for electric cars, adapted several factories for the exclusive production of battery cars and, more recently, even decided to follow Tesla's footsteps - and was among the few to do so together. with Toyota - going into battery cell production. That is why you are aware of the complexity of designing and producing batteries and vehicles to support the electric mobility you are betting on.
According to Manager Magazin (MM), if it depended on Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess, meaning its management, "Volkswagen would try to acquire Tesla or an important slice." Speaking to Reuters, the German conglomerate denies, claiming that “speculation about the purchase of a Tesla stake by Manager Magazin is unfounded.” Note that it was not claimed to be a lie, nor that the magazine invented and much less than Herbert Diess belies it. And, interestingly, it was only disputed the acquisition of part and not of the whole, the other possibility raised by MM.
According to Automotive News Europe, MM has collected statements from company officials confirming that Diess argues that Volkswagen would have a lot to gain if it could benefit from Tesla's knowledge of batteries and software. However, if management advocates the takeover, the problem, always according to MM, is the opposition that the Porsche and Piech families (who control the German group) make to the deal.
A banker close to Diess revealed that the CEO "would love for the Tesla software development team to work for the group, but it is virtually unjustifiable to pay $ 30 billion to acquire the entire American company."

Autonews