Herbert Diess, new CEO of Volkswagen
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Volkswagen denied a report Thursday that it has any interest in taking a stake in U.S. electric car maker Tesla.
“It’s completely unfounded. It’s pure speculation,” Volkswagen spokesman Pietro Zollino said of a report in German magazine Manager Magazin that said VW CEO Herbert Diess was eyeing Tesla.
Tesla’s shares briefly inched higher after Reuters published an article summarizing the magazine before falling after VW denied the report.
While Germany’s Volkswagen may not want to invest in Tesla, the U.S. carmaker has been scouting locations in Europe for a new Gigafactory there.
Executives at Tesla, which didn’t immediately comment on this story, have said a European facility will help lower transportation costs, avoid tariffs and expand availability in a market just beginning to embrace electric vehicles. Norway now sells more battery-powered vehicles than those using gas or diesel, and Tesla is the market’s number one supplier.
CEO Elon Musk told investors in a July 24 conference call the company would finalize its location for a European Gigafactory before the end of the year with hopes to have it up and running by 2021.
Two auto industry executives close to Tesla or Volkswagen, who asked not to be identified, said the California-based automaker is currently looking for a factory site in Germany.
Tesla has reportedly scouted out Lower Saxony, Germany, close to VW’s headquarters and its largest manufacturing operations, according to one of the people, who lives in Europe. Though labor costs are high, he said the location would provide Tesla with “cheap and renewable energy.”
Germany’s Manager Magazin had reported early Thursday that Volkswagen was looking to acquire a stake in Tesla as a way to access the U.S. manufacturer’s technology. VW is in the midst of an aggressive roll-out of battery-electric vehicles, starting with the Audi e-tron it launched this year, with dozens more products to come by mid-decade. But it has also been developing alliances, including one with Ford Motor Co., that could help reduce costs and give it access to new technologies.
“Diess would go in right away if he could,” the German magazine reported, quoting an unidentified senior VW manager.
According to the publication, Diess has been meeting regularly with his counterpart at Tesla, though Musk had so far rebuffed an interest in striking an alliance.
Volkswagen categorically denied the report.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
