Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Volkswagen Group head Herbert Diess recently met. Both CEOs drove apart in a car, but that’s all there is to it. That says Diess.
Elon Musk paid a visit to the Tesla factory in Germany that is under construction last week. Then he met Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess during a stopover in Braunschweig. There Musk drove a few laps in a Volkswagen ID3 with Diess next to him. Diess posted a video of this on LinkedIn and was pleased with the meeting. Not much later, the German announced that he himself also drove a Tesla Model Y and is impressed by that car. It feeds speculation that some form of collaboration is in the works.
Diess, who goes into his meeting with Musk quite extensively on his LinkedIn account, now rejects these rumors firmly. “To be clear, we just drove an ID3 and talked a bit, but there is no deal or a partnership coming up.” The most concrete rumor was that due to considerations of a smaller model among the Model 3, Musk would be interested in Volkswagen’s approach with the ID3. After all, a car of that size is not yet in Tesla’s portfolio. However, it does not seem to be more than a look behind the scenes at the competition.