VW CEO Praised Musk’s SpaceX Success to Motivate Top Executives
- Automaker must slash costs to navigate Covid-19 pandemic
- Software push seen as critical for VW to catch up with Tesla
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Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess evoked the historic rocket launch by rival Elon Musk to motivate top executives at the carmaker as they seek to overcome the auto industry’s biggest market slump in decades, according to people familiar with the matter.
Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. last week became the first private company to launch humans into space, and Diess told a gathering of the company’s top management that they should take inspiration from the achievement as the German manufacturer strives to massively expand its software operations while slashing expenses, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the meeting Thursday wasn’t public.