VW chief defies sceptics with ambitious plans to overtake Tesla

[TruckElectric]

VW chief defies sceptics with ambitious plans to overtake Tesla
Herbert Diess wants to sell 26m emission-free vehicles in 9 years, overtaking rivals including Californian electric pioneer


A few quotes from the article:


'I think we [Musk and VW] make a good pair because he is pulling ahead and we are fast followers
Herbert Diess'



'His long-term aim is to convince capital markets to treat VW more like Tesla than an old-world car manufacturer, propelling it to a market value of €200bn, more than double its current €75bn valuation. Investors are yet to be fully convinced.'


'Additionally, while Tesla can raise more than $2bn overnight by issuing new shares, “Mr Diess would have to sell 2.5m cars to get that money,” said a person close to investors. VW has to rely on debt to finance its overhaul, and has “de facto no equity capital market access”, he said.'



Link: Financial Times

Advertisement

 

[Ehninger1212]

I love the ambition, but lets see something already!

 

[Dids]

Isn't that the same company that was selling clean diesels? No Mr. Diess you are not a good pair. You are no where near fast following and just saying things seems to be what you do best. Stop trying to drape your arm on Elon Musk and do something.

 

[ldjessee]

Cars sitting around not being sold because they cannot get the software right is a good indication of how 'fast following' they are... they followed someone into an area beyond their capabilities.

 

[AlexD]

Cars sitting around not being sold because they cannot get the software right is a good indication of how 'fast following' they are... they followed someone into an area beyond their capabilities.

Nevertheless I admire someone who commits wholeheartedly and not sits cowering in their corner like so many others - waiting for the inevitable "sword of Damacles" to fall.

 

[DMC-81]

Isn't that the same company that was selling clean diesels? No Mr. Diess you are not a good pair. You are no where near fast following and just saying things seems to be what you do best. Stop trying to drape your arm on Elon Musk and do something.

Yes.
I have to laugh at the term "clean diesel". Saying that is like saying "healthy cigarettes". I owned a total of 7 VW's in my early adulthood and one of which was diesel. Man that thing smelled bad.

I know diesels have their place in heavy equipment, but VW using that dirty fuel to lower their CAFE or emissions in passenger vehicles has been misguided, let alone the emissions cheating scandal.

It's good that they are now playing catchup on EV's, but they haven't made a car in over 20 years that made my short list of potential purchase candidates.

 

[ldjessee]

As much as I felt burnt by VW for 'Clean Diesel', our diesel SportWagon was the best VW I ever owned. It got great mileage, had a smooth ride, and looked nice... if it had not polluted so much, probably would still have had it instead of our Nissan Leaf (we used our diesel gate money to put down on a Nissan Leaf).

If they built a car that looked and handled like that but was an EV with a 200-300 mile range, I know my wife and I would want it immediately. But, they are not doing that for some reason, so we have a Nissan Leaf, I have another Subaru Outback, and a reservation for a Cybertruck.

 

[Replicanthunter]

Beware of them Germans. When they put their minds to something...

 

[DMC-81]

Beware of them Germans. When they put their minds to something...

Agreed, as long as they build them in Germany. I liked the VW's that were built in Germany, but the ones that were made in Mexico were not as good.

This was my favorite made-in-Germany VW (circa 1992):

My brand new 1997 Jetta which was made in Mexico didn't have the same feel of quality. Also, I wanted a silver car but I had to settle for red as apparently in that year, the Mexico plant couldn't get the silver paint right. That was my last VW which I only kept for 18 months. I figured, what's the point of buying a "German car" that's made in Mexico?

I was recently considering a VW Beetle for my teenage daughter until I read the customer reviews on them. Apparently things haven't changed much.

 

[TruckElectric]

A big advantage I see that Tesla has over the major auto manufacturers is Tesla began as an EV auto manufacturer and probably most of their R&D goes into battery, motor and power electronics technologies and innovations - all the while the major auto manufacturers have to split their R&D between ICE technology and EV tech.

Tesla will remain a leader in EV tech for many years to come while the major traditional auto manufacturers play catch up.

Not an exact analogy, but close enough, is what happened to RIM(Blackberry), Nokia and DEC(Digital Equipment Corporation).

Blackberry and Nokia let Apple get ahead of them and they never recovered. Same for DEC, they(Ken Olsen by his own admission later) dismissed the PC and got left behind.

There are plenty of other examples no doubt. List some if you have any!

 

[TyPope]

A big advantage I see that Tesla has over the major auto manufacturers is Tesla began as an EV auto manufacturer and probably most of their R&D goes into battery, motor and power electronics technologies and innovations - all the while the major auto manufacturers have to split their R&D between ICE technology and EV tech.

Tesla will remain a leader in EV tech for many years to come while the major traditional auto manufacturers play catch up.

Not an exact analogy, but close enough, is what happened to RIM(Blackberry), Nokia and DEC(Digital Equipment Corporation).

Blackberry and Nokia let Apple get ahead of them and they never recovered. Same for DEC, they(Ken Olsen by his own admission later) dismissed the PC and got left behind.

There are plenty of other examples no doubt. List some if you have any!

You bring up a point. Earnings get split up in quite a few ways. How much of every vehicle price paid goes into advertising, you reckon?

 

[stangfish]

VW chief defies sceptics with ambitious plans to overtake Tesla
Herbert Diess wants to sell 26m emission-free vehicles in 9 years, overtaking rivals including Californian electric pioneer


A few quotes from the article:


'I think we [Musk and VW] make a good pair because he is pulling ahead and we are fast followers
Herbert Diess'



'His long-term aim is to convince capital markets to treat VW more like Tesla than an old-world car manufacturer, propelling it to a market value of €200bn, more than double its current €75bn valuation. Investors are yet to be fully convinced.'


'Additionally, while Tesla can raise more than $2bn overnight by issuing new shares, “Mr Diess would have to sell 2.5m cars to get that money,” said a person close to investors. VW has to rely on debt to finance its overhaul, and has “de facto no equity capital market access”, he said.'



Link: Financial Times

Sadly, rust belt manufacturing companies can't do Silicon Valley level high-tech.

 

[H20]

I applaud any efforts to build a more sustainable future, while VW may never catch up on battery tech, and stuff. They are getting into some things Tesla is not doing. Have you seen the Id.3's HUD? It's pretty cool. Hopefully this competion, and others, will push Tesla to stay driven, and keep pushing the boundries.

 

[Dids]

I applaud any efforts to build a more sustainable future, while VW may never catch up on battery tech, and stuff. They are getting into some things Tesla is not doing. Have you seen the Id.3's HUD? It's pretty cool. Hopefully this competion, and others, will push Tesla to stay driven, and keep pushing the boundries.

The thing about a HUD is that it expects you to process additional information and puts that right in your field of view. FSD means I get to text with my friends and watch movie etc and a HUD becomes totally useless. It is pretty but I'm glad Tesla is working on self driving and laser windshield wipers.

 

[TruckElectric]

I applaud any efforts to build a more sustainable future, while VW may never catch up on battery tech, and stuff. They are getting into some things Tesla is not doing. Have you seen the Id.3's HUD? It's pretty cool. Hopefully this competion, and others, will push Tesla to stay driven, and keep pushing the boundries.

This is the Honda E and has 5 displays. I hope Tesla will have a similar offering at some point.