The Elon Musk and Herbert Diess budding bromance seems to be going strong, with the Tesla CEO making a surprise appearance at the Volkswagen managers’ 2021 Leadership Summit in Alpbach, Austria.
Elon Musk’s attendance at the VW Group gathering reveals Diess and the Tesla CEO’s deep respect for each other. Musk’s appearance also shows that Diess is willing to change his mindset, something that he believes everyone at Volkswagen AG needs to go through to compete with new automakers.
“We need a new mindset at Volkswagen AG to take on the new competition!” posted Herbert Diess on LinkedIn. “After three days with 200 top managers from the world, I am confident: We have everything we need to tackle the challenges. Right strategy, right competencies, right management team. We can do it—but we have to deliver now.”
It seems like Diess invited Elon Musk to speak at the summit to learn from Tesla’s CEO and gain some perspective. According to Handelsblatt, Diess asked Musk why Tesla was so nimble compared to its rivals.
The Tesla CEO replied that it came down to his management style and how he thought of himself. Musk shared that he perceived himself as an engineer, first and foremost, one that has an eye for supply chains, logistics, and production.
Musk may have given Diess and VW managers some encouraging words at the meeting as well, assuring everyone that they were moving in the right direction.
“As a surprise guest [Elon Musk] joined us for a video talk in the evening. Happy to hear that even our strongest competitor thinks that we will succeed in the transition if we drive the transformation with full power,” Diess noted.
VW’s Electric Future
In a LinkedIn post, Diess mentioned VW Group’s headquarters in Wolfsburg and Project Trinity. The Wolfsburg plant has long been one of VW’s key facilities. Project Trinity is VW’s upcoming electric sedan project, and it will be built in the Wolfsburg plant. The company aims to start Project Trinity production at Wolfsburg by 2026.
According to VW CEO Ralf Ralf Brandstätter, Project Trinity is like the point of “crystallization” for the legacy OEM’s ACCELERATE strategy. VW Group plans to “accelerate” its transformation into a software-driven mobility provider, and Project Trinity seems to be an integral part of the company’s evolution.
VW and Tesla’s Healthy Competition
Diess noted that Project Trinity could revolutionize the company. He observed that Trinity could help Volkswagen compete with Tesla Giga Berlin in Grünheide, highlighting that Tesla Giga Berlin “will build cars with an impressive speed and productivity.”
At Giga Fest, a poster stated that Giga Berlin aims to produce one car body every 45 seconds, hinting at how many cars Giga Berlin could make in the future. The sign did not indicate whether the goal was short-term or long-term.
However, it has been reiterated repeatedly that one of Tesla’s early goals for Giga Berlin is to produce 500,000 vehicles a year. Since Giga Berlin’s goal has been made public, Volkswagen Group has a clear EV production goal to compete with Tesla in Grünheide.
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Tesla Cybercab tests are going on overdrive with production-ready units
Tesla is ramping its real-world tests of the Cybercab, with multiple sightings of the vehicle being reported across social media this week.
Tesla is ramping its real-world tests of the Cybercab, with multiple sightings of the autonomous two-seater being reported across social media this week. Based on videos of the vehicle that have been shared online, it appears that Cybercab tests are underway across multiple states.
Recent Cybercab sightings
Reports of Cybercab tests have ramped this week, with a vehicle that looked like a production-ready prototype being spotted at Apple’s Visitor Center in California. The vehicle in this sighting was interesting as it was equipped with a steering wheel. The vehicle also featured some changes to the design of its brake lights.
The Cybercab was also filmed testing at the Fremont factory’s test track, which also seemed to involve a vehicle that looked production-ready. This also seemed to be the case for a Cybercab that was spotted in Austin, Texas, which happened to be undergoing real-world tests. Overall, these sightings suggest that Cybercab testing is fully underway, and the vehicle is really moving towards production.
Production design all but finalized?
Recently, a near-production-ready Cybercab was showcased at Tesla’s Santana Row showroom in San Jose. The vehicle was equipped with frameless windows, dual windshield wipers, powered butterfly door struts, an extended front splitter, an updated lightbar, new wheel covers, and a license plate bracket. Interior updates include redesigned dash/door panels, refined seats with center cupholders, updated carpet, and what appeared to be improved legroom.
There seems to be a pretty good chance that the Cybercab’s design has been all but finalized, at least considering Elon Musk’s comments at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting. During the event, Musk confirmed that the vehicle will enter production around April 2026, and its production targets will be quite ambitious.
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Tesla gets a win in Sweden as union withdraws potentially “illegal” blockade
As per recent reports, the Vision union’s planned anti-Tesla action might have been illegal.
Swedish union Vision has withdrawn its sympathy blockade against Tesla’s planned service center and showroom in Kalmar. As per recent reports, the Vision union’s planned anti-Tesla action might have been illegal.
Vision’s decision to pull the blockade
Vision announced the blockade in early December, stating that it was targeting the administrative handling of Tesla’s facility permits in Kalmar municipality. The sympathy measure was expected to start Monday, but was formally withdrawn via documents sent to the Mediation Institute and Kalmar Municipality last week.
As noted in a Daggers Arbete report, plans for the strike were ultimately pulled after employer group SKR highlighted potential illegality under the Public Employment Act. Vision stressed its continued backing for the Swedish labor model, though Deputy negotiation manager Oskar Pettersson explained that the Vision union and IF Metall made the decision to cancel the planned strike together.
“We will not continue to challenge the regulations,” Petterson said. “The objection was of a technical nature. We made the assessment together with IF Metall that we were not in a position to challenge the legal assessment of whether we could take this particular action against Tesla. Therefore, we chose to revoke the notice itself.”
The SKR’s warning
Petterson also stated that SKR’s technical objection to the Vision union’s planned anti-Tesla strike framed the protest as an unauthorized act. “It was a legal assessment of the situation. Both for us and for IF Metall, it is important to be clear that we stand for the Swedish model. But we should not continue to challenge the regulations and risk getting judgments that lead nowhere in the application of the regulations,” he said.
Vision ultimately canceled its planned blockade against Tesla on December 9. With Vision’s withdrawal, few obstacles remain for Tesla’s long-planned Kalmar site. A foreign electrical firm completed work this fall, and Tesla’s Careers page currently lists a full-time service manager position based there, signaling an imminent opening.
Tesla Semi Program Director Dan Priestly teased the major improvements to the all-electric Class 8 truck on Thursday night, following the company’s decision to overhaul the design earlier this year.
Priestley said he drove the Semi on Thursday, and the improvements appear to be welcomed by one of the minds behind the project. “Our customers are going to love it,” he concluded.
Just drove the redesigned Semi. Our customers are going to love it. https://t.co/KZ88sf1CDL
— Dan Priestley (@danWpriestley) December 19, 2025
The small detail does not seem like much, but it is coming from someone who has been involved in the development of the truck from A to Z. Priestley has been involved in the Semi program since November 2015 and has slowly worked his way through the ranks, and currently stands as the Director of the program.
Tesla Semi undergoes major redesign as dedicated factory preps for deliveries
Tesla made some major changes to the Semi design as it announced at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting that it changed the look and design to welcome improvements in efficiency.
Initially, Tesla adopted the blade-like light bar for the Semi, similar to the one that is present on the Model Y Premium and the Cybertruck.
Additionally, there are some slight aesthetic changes to help with efficiency, including a redesigned bumper with improved aero channels, a smaller wraparound windshield, and a smoother roofline for better aero performance.
All of these changes came as the company’s Semi Factory, which is located on Gigafactory Nevada’s property, was finishing up construction in preparation for initial production phases, as Tesla is planning to ramp up manufacturing next year. CEO Elon Musk has said the Semi has attracted “ridiculous demand.”
The Semi has already gathered many large companies that have signed up to buy units, including Frito-Lay and PepsiCo., which have been helping Tesla test the vehicle in a pilot program to test range, efficiency, and other important metrics that will be a major selling point.
Tesla will be the Semi’s first user, though, and the truck will help solve some of the company’s logistics needs in the coming years.
Tesla Cybercab tests are going on overdrive with production-ready units
Tesla gets a win in Sweden as union withdraws potentially “illegal” blockade
