Herbert Diess, the German engineer who runs Volkswagen, is not given to hyperbole. Yet even he can’t help waxing lyrical about Tesla, the Silicon Valley upstart that recently overtook VW to become the world’s second most valuable carmaker (Simon Duke writes).
Last week Mr Diess said the electric car group was “paving the way” for established players to follow. “Tesla’s market valuation tells you about the future. It has a product that describes the future of the auto industry,” Mr Diess, 61, told Bloomberg News.
Yesterday Tesla pulled ahead of its Munich-based rival after delivering consecutive quarterly profits for the first time. Tesla shares jumped more than 10 per cent to $640.81, lifting its market cap to $115.5 billion. Volkswagen, which sells more cars in