VW Now Considers Tesla Its Key ‘New World’ Rival

Volkswagen admits that moving forward, its main rival will not be the

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by Brad Anderson

August 7, 2017 at 12:30

Volkswagen admits that moving forward, its main rival will not be the likes of Toyota or Hyundai, but rather Tesla.

In an interview with an internal company publication, VW chief executive Herbert Diess said that Tesla has a number of abilities the German giant doesn’t, Auto News reports.

“In the old world it is Toyota, Hyundai, and the French carmakers. In the new world it is Tesla. Tesla belongs among the competitors which has abilities that we currently do not have,” Diess said.

Diess cited the fact that approximately half of Tesla’s engineers being software experts as a reason why Volkswagen needs to improve in order to rival Elon Musk’s electric vehicle start up moving forward.

“This shows that we need to significantly improve. We can do this. We measure ourselves against Tesla quite deliberately. Our goal: Using our abilities not just to catch up, but even to overtake,” he said.

VW’s catch up game has already started. Last year, it unveiled the first in a series of all-electric concept cars previewing its impending family of EVs. Ultimately, VW wants to become the first carmaker to produce more than a million electric cars.