Volkswagen CEO "Will Overtake Tesla"...Dismisses Possibility of Alliance (Comprehensive)

(Source: CNBC)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] German automaker Volkswagen has dismissed the possibility of an alliance with Tesla, the leader in the electric vehicle sector, and declared its intention to surpass Tesla and become the global number one in electric vehicles.

Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen, said in an interview with the US financial media CNBC on the 16th (local time), when asked about the possibility of an alliance with Tesla, "We have never considered that. We will follow our own path."

He added, "We want to closely pursue and overtake Tesla," and "We believe we can do that. For this, we need our own software platform (software stack) and our own technology."

He also emphasized, "Tesla and Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, are probably also thinking about ways to move forward," and "There has never been any conversation about a merger between CEO Musk and me."

On the same day, Volkswagen held a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, announcing its global electric vehicle sales targets, investment plans, and profitability improvement measures. Volkswagen stated, "We will deliver 1 million electric vehicles to customers this year," and "We will become the leader in the electric vehicle sector by 2025 at the latest."

Last year, Volkswagen sold a total of 380,000 electric vehicles globally, ranking second in sales behind Tesla, which sold 440,000 units. This year's target is about 2.5 times the number of vehicles sold last year.

To achieve this, Volkswagen plans to invest 46 billion euros (approximately 62.1174 trillion KRW) over the next five years in electric and hybrid vehicles. Through this announcement, Volkswagen has solidified its all-in electric vehicle strategy but did not specify a date to cease production of internal combustion engine vehicles, considering differences in regulatory environments by country.

At the ‘Power Day’ event held the previous day, Volkswagen announced plans to develop prismatic integrated battery cells to be applied from 2023 and to apply them to 80% of its electric vehicles by 2030. The goal is to reduce battery costs by up to 50% through the development and internalization of integrated battery cells.

Alongside battery independence, Volkswagen aims to introduce hardware, software, batteries, charging, and mobility services based on a large-scale standardized technical foundation.

Volkswagen will launch models based on the Modular Electric Drive Matrix (MEB) platform, which includes 27 variants, and models based on the PPE platform that supports fast charging next year. It also plans to develop a next-generation dedicated electric vehicle platform by 2025.

Automotive software will also be integrated based on the Volkswagen operating system. The proportion of in-house automotive software development will increase from the current 10% to 60%, with the goal of developing autonomous driving and data-based new mobility services.

Volkswagen’s American Depositary Receipts (ADR) listed on the New York Stock Exchange closed at $32.75 per share, up 10.05% from the previous close. This is the highest level in about 12 years since August 2009, and the bold electric vehicle strategy is credited with driving the stock price increase.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.