Tesla boss: Elon Musk speaks as a surprise guest at the VW conference

Tesla boss
Elon Musk speaks as a surprise guest at the VW conference

Tesla boss Elon Musk appeared as a surprise guest via video at a VW management conference in Alpach, Austria. CEO Herbert Diess published a picture on Twitter that showed him together with Musk on a screen on a stage.

Diess wrote: “With a new way of thinking & a revolution at our corporate headquarters in Wolfsburg, we can create the new competition.” It was a good meeting with 200 top managers. Diess thanked Musk and announced a visit to the Tesla factory in Brandenburg: “We will visit you soon in Grünheide.” According to a Volkswagen spokesman, Diess Musk also invited them to visit the corporate headquarters in Wolfsburg.

Musk was added as a surprise guest, wrote Diess on the LinkedIn platform. According to the VW spokesman, Diess had invited the Tesla boss. On Saturday, the “Handelsblatt” had already reported on Musk’s appearance and referred to participants. Accordingly, the Tesla boss dispelled VW’s concerns about the transition to e-mobility. The VW group will master the change, said Musk according to “Handelsblatt”. He sees VW as his greatest challenger. Tesla has to become even faster and more productive than other car companies. “We have to get better despite all the success,” said the Tesla boss, according to the report.

Diess wrote on LinkedIn that he was pleased to hear that Tesla, as the strongest competitor, was of the opinion that VW would succeed in the transition “if we push ahead with the change at full speed”. But he also referred to the speed of Tesla. One example is that the company is coping well with the shortage of computer chips because the company has developed software that enables the use of different chips.

At the internal conference in Austria on Thursday, Diess swore his management circle to tougher competition with Tesla. The Wolfsburg headquarters also have to become “more efficient, faster”.

dpa