Volkswagen has a long and storied tradition of building world-class vehicles. While they have managed to make a legacy off of offering affordable, stylish, and effectively-performing models for 84 years, their next big challenge comes in the tall task of creating and engineering electric vehicles that are functional. While this sounds like an easy task for the legendary German car company, it has encountered several problems over the course of its MEB platform’s development. The narrative of the problem solving has changed several times in the past year.
The software issues for Volkswagen have been evident since the initial development of the ID. family of vehicles. Now, Volkswagen has been relatively transparent regarding the issues with its software in the past. Recently, there has been a trend, however, in how the company’s software project is being portrayed because for a while, Volkswagen was pawning off its software as “fixed.” It is obvious this isn’t the case.
Yesterday, a report came out that indicated CEO Herbert Diess was interested in keeping the software fixes in-house and that he wasn’t interested in having some other company, whether it be another automaker or a tech company, fix the issues they were encountering. It doesn’t seem like a great idea to push the software problems onto another company, especially if Volkswagen attempts to set the precedent that it is a leader in electric powertrains and EV manufacturing. The only real way to establish any sort of narrative that proves your worthiness in this sector is to solve things yourself, it seems. If Tesla had given its software issues early on to Apple or Microsoft, for example, to fix, you can bet they wouldn’t be looked at as some automotive marvel. They’d just be another company out there trying to establish a presence in a quickly growing field of EV competitors. The vertical integration that Tesla has been able to display, through not only its hardware but also through its development of software. The complete expertise in software especially is advantageous in the event of Software Updates being rolled out in an Over-the-Air fashion as Tesla does. When even the smallest bug or issue is revealed in the coding, engineers can quickly solve the problem and roll out a new update in a matter of minutes.
Diess is right, it is absolutely imperative that Volkswagen solves these issues in-house. However, there needs to be more consistency in the story that is being portrayed, in my opinion. For the past year, we’ve heard that Volkswagen has admitted Tesla has a 10-year advantage, then the ID.3 software issues were worse than initially reported, then that software was so bad it had moved onto other vehicles.
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Then, all of a sudden, Volkswagen suddenly made Markus Duesmann, the ICE-supportive CEO of Audi, the person responsible for solving the software issues. Finally, the company came out in December and claimed that it had overcome all of the issues it had with the ID. family’s software.
It all seems like a plan to save face, and it should be. Volkswagen has held this reputation for years for making quality gas cars. Apart from the Dieselgate scandal, which inevitably tarnished the reputation of the company, Volkswagen has done a reasonably good job of creating cars that are dependable. My first car was a Volkswagen with 198,000 miles on it. It was dependable, and I was sad to see it go when I finally had to say goodbye.
However, it is quite alarming to see that Volkswagen is still years away from solving these issues. For a year, there have been so many different narratives regarding the company’s software, and it seems like a cause that perhaps just needs more time. There is no doubt in the world that they can figure it out eventually, but is it worth keeping the faith for five or ten more years? Is it worth waiting until 2025, 2030, or even longer to have effective electric vehicle software just to say “We developed it ourselves!”
It seems like the big issue coming to fruition now is the fact that Volkswagen has set another narrative forward that it will be ready to deliver software updates this Summer. All I have to say is, the electric vehicle community has a great memory, they are very unforgiving, and they don’t want to hear excuses. If Volkswagen cannot figure out a way to develop effective software for its vehicles by the Summer, roll out OTA updates, and provide proof that its vehicles are worth a damn, it may be time to consider other options.
-->Diess has a great relationship with Elon Musk, and it may not be too late to consider seeking help from Tesla in this sense. I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world to have a guy who is your friend and the CEO of the most successful EV company in the world help your company solve some issues. Volkswagen would gain plenty of credibility with Tesla’s software infrastructure if it chooses to go that way. I hope they can somehow solve the issues in-house, but I am more prone to believe that if things don’t come around this Summer like VW has promised with the OTA updates, it will be a bad look once again, and VW could remain the laughing stock of the EV industry.
“If we want to retain our independence, we have to be able to develop the software in the car ourselves. This is the only way for us to guarantee long-term success,” Diess said. Is that a hill VW is willing to die on?
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News
Tesla Giga Berlin is still ramping production to meet Model Y demand: plant manager
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin has expanded to two full shifts, as per the facility’s plant manager, and a lot of it is due to Model Y demand.
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin has expanded to two full shifts, as per the facility’s plant manager, and a lot of it is due to Model Y demand. While registrations in some countries such as Sweden have fallen sharply this year, the company’s sales in other key territories have been rising.
Giga Berlin shifts to two shifts
Giga Berlin factory manager André Thierig told the DPA that the facility has been running two shifts since September to manage a surge in global orders. And due to the tariff dispute with the United States, vehicles that are produced at Giga Berlin are now being exported to Canada.
“We deliver to well over 30 markets and definitely see a positive trend there,” Thierig said.
Despite Giga Berlin now having two shifts, the facility’s production still needs to ramp up more. This is partly due to the addition of the Tesla Model Y Performance and Standard, which are also being produced in the Grunheide-based factory. Interestingly enough, Giga Berlin still only produces the Model Y, unlike other factories like Gigafactory Texas, the Fremont Factory, and Gigafactory Shanghai, which produce more than one type of vehicle.
Norway’s momentum
Norway, facing an imminent tax increase on cars, has seen a historic spike in Tesla purchases as buyers rush to secure deliveries before the change takes effect, as noted in a CarUp report. As per recent reports, Tesla has broken Norway’s all-time annual sales record this month, beating Volkswagen’s record that has stood since 2016.
-->What is rather remarkable is the fact that Tesla was able to achieve so much in Norway with one hand practically tied behind its back. This is because the company’s biggest sales draw, FSD, remains unavailable in the country. Fortunately, Tesla is currently hard at work attempting to get FSD approved for Europe, a notable milestone that should spur even more vehicle sales in the region.
Tesla is launching a crazy Full Self-Driving free trial, which will enable owners who have not purchased the suite outright to try it for 30 days.
There are a handful of stipulations that will be needed in order for you to qualify for the free trial, which was announced on Thursday night.
Tesla said the trial is for v14, the company’s latest version of the Full Self-Driving suite, and will be available to new and existing Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck owners, who will have the opportunity to try the latest features, including Speed Profiles, Arrival Options, and other new upgrades.
🚨 Tesla is launching a free 30-day trial of Full Self-Driving in North America for owners.
It includes every model, but you need v14.2 or later, and you cannot have already purchased the suite outright. https://t.co/8CNmxxOkVl
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 27, 2025
You must own one of the five Tesla models, have Full Self-Driving v14.2 or later, and have an eligible vehicle in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, or Canada.
The company said it is a non-transferable trial, which is not redeemable for cash. Tesla is reaching out to owners via email to give them the opportunity to enable the Full Self-Driving trial.
Those who are subscribed to the monthly Full Self-Driving program are eligible, so they will essentially get a free month of the suite.
Once it is installed, the trial will begin, and the 30-day countdown will begin.
Tesla is making a major push to increase its Full Self-Driving take rate, as it revealed that about 12 percent of owners are users of the program during its recent earnings call.
Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said during the call:
“We feel that as people experience the supervised FSD at scale, demand for our vehicles, like Elon said, would increase significantly. On the FSD adoption front, we’ve continued to see decent progress. However, note that the total paid FSD customer base is still small, around 12% of our current fleet.”
Earlier today, we reported on Tesla also launching a small-scale advertising campaign on X for the Full Self-Driving suite, hoping to increase adoption.
Tesla Full Self-Driving warrants huge switch-up on essential company strategy
It appears most people are pretty content with the subscription program. It costs just $99 a month, in comparison to the $8,000 fee it is for the outright purchase.
Tesla Full Self-Driving has warranted a huge switch-up on an essential company strategy as the automaker is hoping to increase the take rate of the ADAS suite.
Unlike other automotive companies, Tesla has long been an outlier, as it has famously ditched a traditional advertising strategy in favor of organic buzz, natural word-of-mouth through its production innovation, and utilizing CEO Elon Musk’s huge social media presence to push its products.
Tesla has taken the money that it would normally spend on advertising and utilized it for R&D purposes. For a long time, it yielded great results, and ironically, Tesla saw benefits from other EV makers running ads.
Tesla counters jab at lack of advertising with perfect response
However, in recent years, Tesla has decided to adjust this strategy, showing a need to expand beyond its core enthusiast base, which is large, but does not span over millions and millions as it would need to fend off global EV competitors, which have become more well-rounded and a better threat to the company.
In 2024 and 2025, Tesla started utilizing ads to spread knowledge about its products. This is continuing, as Full Self-Driving ads are now being spotted on social media platforms, most notably, X, which is owned by Musk:
NEWS: Tesla is running paid advertisements on X about FSD (Supervised). Here’s an ad they started running yesterday: pic.twitter.com/IHVywLMyTd
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) November 25, 2025
Interestingly, Tesla’s strategy on FSD advertising is present in Musk’s new compensation package, as the eleventh tranche describes a goal of achieving 10 million active paid FSD subscriptions.
Full Self-Driving is truly Tesla’s primary focus moving forward, although it could be argued that it also has a special type of dedication toward its Optimus robot project. However, FSD will ultimately become the basis for the Robotaxi, which will enable autonomous ride-sharing across the globe as it is permitted in more locations.
Tesla has been adjusting its advertising strategy over the past couple of years, and it seems it is focused on more ways to spread awareness about its products. It will be interesting to see if the company will expand its spending even further, as it has yet to put on a commercial during live television.
We wouldn’t put it out of the question, at least not yet.
Tesla Giga Berlin is still ramping production to meet Model Y demand: plant manager
Tesla launches crazy Full Self-Driving free trial: here’s how you can get it
