Tension with Musk?… Volkswagen CEO "Can Catch Up with Tesla by 2025"

Herbert Diess Volkswagen CEO
Photo by EPA Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen, said that Volkswagen could surpass Tesla and become the number one in the electric vehicle industry by 2025, according to major foreign media reports on the 28th (local time).

On the day, CEO Diess told employees at Volkswagen headquarters that achieving the top position was possible.

It appears that CEO Diess is subtly engaging in a rivalry with Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Musk said last week that he does not agree with industry forecasts that Volkswagen will catch up with Tesla by 2030. CEO Diess responded immediately after Musk’s remarks.

CEO Diess’s statement on this day also differed in tone from his remarks at a media conference last month. At that time, Diess said, "I did not expect Tesla to grow so fast and be so well prepared," and "Surpassing Tesla by 2025 will be a tough competition." He acknowledged Tesla, but Musk’s somewhat dismissive comments about Volkswagen may have provoked CEO Diess.

CEO Diess argued that Tesla could weaken while pursuing the difficult task of increasing production volume, and if Volkswagen takes advantage of this well, it could become number one by 2025.

Diess said, "Musk has to increase production simultaneously at highly complex factories in Austin, Texas, and Gr?nheide near Berlin, Germany, while also expanding production in Shanghai, China," adding, "This will be quite challenging for Musk, and we must use this opportunity to quickly catch up with Tesla."

In fact, Tesla’s Gr?nheide factory was originally scheduled to start operations by the end of last year, but local environmental controversies delayed the operation plan by several months. The Shanghai factory experienced production disruptions due to the Chinese government’s strict zero-COVID policy.

CEO Diess stated, "Volkswagen’s strongest competitor is Tesla, and we must take advantage of Tesla’s current hesitation to catch up."

Volkswagen aims to sell 700,000 electric vehicles this year. Tesla’s sales target for this year, announced by Musk, is 1.5 million, more than twice that of Volkswagen.

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