The turns the world takes. Tesla remains a (no longer so) small American startup, considered not much more than a footnote until a few years ago. It continues to have a huge appetite for financial resources, but still without the capacity to generate its own, but it has a stock market appreciation capable of making business empires blush.
On the other side, we have the world's largest car manufacturer and just considering the Volkswagen brand, there were almost six million cars sold last year.
And it is through its executive director, Herbert Diess, in an interview with an internal publication – Inside -, that we learn that the German giant looks to the little American as an inspiration to improve the core of its business.
Herbert Diess, CEO of VolkswagenIn the old world it's Toyota, Hyundai and the French builders. In the new world it's Tesla.
Tesla's size does not do justice to the impact it has had on the car industry. Its ambition to mass-produce electric cars is today a threat to the competitiveness of established car manufacturers.
Tesla has good electric motors and batteries, a network of fast charging stations, autonomous driving technology, (internet) connectivity and a new approach to car distribution. Half of Tesla's engineers are software specialists, a much larger proportion than at Volkswagen.
"Tesla is in the group of rivals who have skills we currently don't have"
Diess statements that continued stating that's why they need to improve significantly. The comparison with Tesla is deliberate and the aim is not only to catch up with them but to surpass them.
These statements would have been impossible to read not that long ago. Dieselgate consequences? Certainly. Both the brand and the group are still undergoing an internal reflection process that is taking them in a different direction. Both in terms of future products – 30 electric models by 2025 - and in internal operational processes.
If the German brand is reinventing itself, Tesla, on the other hand, is taking a colossal step with the launch of the Model 3. The brand's promised affordable electric will transform the tiny Tesla into something much bigger. If the plans go as planned, the brand will grow from almost 85,000 units sold in 2016 to more than half a million in 2018. The risks are high.
What is undeniable, no matter how successful or unsuccessful, is the impact of Tesla. Much can be learned from the young brand and these statements by Herbert Diess go precisely in that direction.