Musk meets Dies in close quarters, as cooperation between Tesla and VW is tantalizingly close

Musk met with Volkswagen Group CEO Dies on Sept. 4, local time, the last day of his trip to Germany. Musk test-drove the ID.3 during the meeting, and also looked at the ID.4, an electric SUV that VW will launch at the end of this year.

Musk made a non-stop three-day visit to Germany from Sept. 1 to Sept. 4, and the meeting was held at the Volkswagen headquarters in New York City, which is the home of the Volkswagen Group's new electric SUV, which will be launched at the end of this year.

Musk first visited biopharmaceutical company CureVac, then traveled to Berlin to meet with politicians to discuss the construction of the Tesla Superfactory and took his first on-site tour of the factory Tesla is building.

But no one expected Musk to accidentally leave a big egg as he neared the end of his 3-day trip to Germany.

According to German media reports, Musk didn't fly back to the U.S. directly after leaving Berlin on his own private jet, but instead went to VW's Braunschweig airfield attached to its headquarters in Wolfsburg, where Musk met VW Group CEO Herbert Diess and personally test-drove VW's newest electric car, the ID.3, and observed VW's not-yet-on-the-market electric car, the ID.4. ID.4.

Herbert Diess is the number one Tesla fan among the leaders of many traditional car companies. He has repeatedly praised Tesla in public ****tions and on social media, and has made frequent overtures to Musk. Both Dees and Musk have also confirmed that they regularly exchange phone calls.

While the Volkswagen Group was plagued by software problems with the ID series, Dees publicly showed weakness in the software technology area by praising Tesla's software technology as being ahead of all car companies. The fact that the two sides were able to pull off the unexpected last-minute meeting is believed to have something to do with Deese's positive attitude.

To show its sincerity, VW gave Musk a test drive of its latest ID.3, and even showed Musk the yet-to-be-released ID.4. This is considered the highest treatment for a meeting between car company leaders. But both sides have been tight-lipped about the details of the meeting and Musk's "test drive report" on the ID series, and no details have emerged.

Dies, who has the most software capabilities of any automaker in Dies's view, may be looking to Musk for advice on how to build his company's software capabilities.

Dies' praise for Tesla may come from his own sincere recognition, but Dies also hopes to use Tesla's benchmark status to push forward the electrification and intelligent transformation of Volkswagen as well as the German automotive industry chain.

Dies is the most resolute leader of traditional car companies in the transformation of electrification and intelligence, but in the process of pushing forward, he has been met with considerable resistance from the traditional German automotive industry chain, labor unions, and even conservative forces within the Volkswagen Group. Software problems with Volkswagen's 8th generation Golf and ID series triggered a series of personnel upheavals within the VW Group, and Dies lost his key position as CEO of the Volkswagen brand.

In contrast, Tesla under Musk's leadership has not only made breakthroughs in sales and profits, it has surpassed all traditional car companies in terms of the company's market capitalization. Tesla has proved to industry colleagues that producing smart electric cars can not only make money, but also the market value of the company's imagination is much more ambitious.

July, Dees publicly praised Tesla on social media, "in the next five to ten years time, the world's highest market capitalization of the company should be the travel company, that will be Tesla, Apple and Volkswagen, Musk and Tesla made a lot of seemingly impossible things." ?

In addition, Tesla is helping traditional car companies to cultivate the market for smart electric vehicles, and driving the automotive industry chain to accelerate its transformation to electrification and intelligence.

Dies praised Tesla again on Collingwood on Friday, saying that Tesla's Berlin factory "brings the future of automotive technology to Germany," and that Tesla's production in Germany will strengthen Germany's EV competition and accelerate the transformation of the entire German auto industry, which is good for VW.

Dies' multiple compliments were echoed by Musk. Hours before the meeting, Musk told fans outside the Gigafactory in Berlin that he thought VW had done a great job of electrifying the car. Musk has repeatedly declared that Tesla's competitors are not other electric cars, but conventional cars.

No corporate-level cooperation issues have been revealed as the two sides have been tight-lipped about the meeting.

This article was written by the author of Automotive House Car, and does not represent the views of Automotive House.