VW Boss Praises Tesla, Says It’s No Longer A Niche Car Maker

During the official presentation of the brand new Golf Mk8, VW’s CEO Herbert Diess was keen on praising Tesla for its achievements so far.

Diess criticized comments from reporters who suggested that Tesla is in trouble because of its small size. “Tesla is not niche,” VW’s CEO said in response, according to Bloomberg. “The Model 3 is a large-series model and they are one of the biggest manufacturers of electric-car batteries.”

“We have a lot of respect for Tesla,” Diess added. “It’s a competitor we take very seriously.”

Also Read: Tesla Model 3 Nearly Makes Europe’s Top 10 Best-Selling Cars List For September 2019

Diess’ comments about Tesla came the day Elon Musk announced a quarterly profit for Tesla, news that boosted the value of the EV maker’s shares by 18 percent -their biggest jump in over six years.

These praise may have been a response in kind to Musk, according to the same report, as the Tesla CEO said on Twitter last month that Diess was “doing more than any big carmaker to go electric. The good of the world should come first. For what it’s worth, he has my support.”

According to Diess, the key question for Tesla’s global expansion is whether capital markets will continue to provide funding for its growing operations. “Scaling up globally is difficult,” he said. “The car industry is very capital intense, and electric cars make it even more capital intense.”