VW wants to avoid being the ‘Nokia of cars’

Nokia was left behind after the Apple iPhone was released – and Volkswagen doesn’t want to become the Nokia of cars with the switch to electric.

Tesla is doing something similar to Apple but in the automotive industry – many experts putting Tesla ahead of other auto makers in the EV stakes by about four years.

The EV company changed everything about the automobile, Teslarati reports.

“The powertrain, the infotainment, the design, and the performance.

“Now, Volkswagen is trying to avoid becoming the Nokia of cars, looking to adapt to the global automotive market’s ever-changing look.”

VW’s Herbert Diess often cites Nokia as an example of not being fast enough to adapt to change and he wants VW to avoid being the Nokia of cars.

He says the car is becoming more of a software device – a computer with wheels, if you like.

Diess reckons the computer car will gather vast amounts of data using artificial intelligence (AI) and information about the driver, road conditions, safety aspects and more to improve the car’s behaviour.

He says Tesla is a reference for VW.

“Europe will be one of the main hubs of electrification, and we are well prepared,” Diess says. He expects cars will become internet devices and start self-driving in four or five years.

Teslarati adds that Tesla Giga Shanghai produced 22,292 Model 3 vehicles in October – the second highest EV production in China – and that it is already achieving 91% of its 2021 targets.

Meanwhile, Electrek reports that Tesla has hired René Reif, the former head of a Mercedes-Benz factory near Berlin, just after having fired Evan Horetsky, the head of its Gigafactory Berlin project.

Electrek says it’s unconfirmed if Reif is taking over the Gigafactory Berlin project, but says a union there, IG Metall, seems to believe that he is.