TU-TESL

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German Business Daily reported on November 8 that Dr. Dieter Zetsche, former CEO of Daimler, recently delivered a public speech. Dr. Zetsche, who has retired, has expressed his opinions on the hot spots in the industry, such as new travel forms, without complying with any enterprise regulations. Asked what he thought of Tesla's success, he said frankly that he appreciated Musk's achievements. In addition to Tesla, musk founded SpaceX, a space exploration technology company. But he is not optimistic about Tesla's strategic development. He said Daimler invested 50 million euros in Tesla ten years ago and acquired a 10% stake in Tesla. Daimler sold the stake a few years later for 800 million euros. Although Tesla's market value is currently 50 billion euros, almost the same as Daimler's, Zetsche said that he did not regret the sale of Tesla shares at that time. Both at that time and now, he believed that the acquisition of Tesla was meaningless to Daimler, and it was purely a financial decision to invest in Tesla. As a start-up company, Tesla has faced the dilemma of investors' divestment in the past years. "Elon has a mission to solve the common problems of mankind. Of course, there will be many difficulties in this process." To promote electric vehicles to the automobile market with "amazing speed" and make significant contribution to the development of the electric vehicle industry. However, Zetsche also said it was unclear whether Tesla would achieve long-term and sustained success. Tesla has always been unable to smooth out production difficulties. Dr. Zetsche said he was not interested in Tesla's super plants in Huada. He said it was unwise to bet on a technology because of the changing market. While appreciating musk, even if Tesla is ahead, Dr. Zetsche believes that the future automotive market will still be the world of, and a large number of other mature automobile manufacturers. According to Zetsche, Daimler will be 50% electric cars by 2030, and all Daimler cars will be electric cars by 2040. With increasingly stringent environmental regulations, automakers have no choice but to develop electric drive technology. However, Dr. Zetsche said he was not optimistic about the development prospect of hydrogen, because there is still a lack of necessary supporting infrastructure. Dr Zetsche said that eliminating fuel vehicles is not the only way to solve environmental and traffic problems. The society is constantly changing, and there will be more appropriate solutions in the future. Since stepping down as Daimler's chief executive in May, Dr Zetsche has made fewer public appearances than when he was in office. Recently, he told the media in a public appearance that he has had a good life since retirement, although the trip is still full. "I have a good life," says Zetsche, who says he can make his own decisions and make his own schedule. Dr Zetsche said that not all new ways of travel are acceptable to him, such as the electric skateboard car popular in Germany this year. He tried it once in Hanover, but he couldn't control it at all. His friends' experience of using electric skateboard car is not very good either. When asked about the recent merger of PSA and FCA, Dr. Zetsche said frankly that he believed that opportunities and challenges coexist. What is the future of the German automobile industry? Dr. Zetsche said that he has worked in the automobile industry for 40 years, and the voice of criticizing the German automobile industry for repeatedly missing development opportunities has never stopped. But the global market share of German cars is growing, and he is very sure that the German automobile industry will get better and better in the future. During his tenure as Daimler's chief executive, Dr. Zetsche was a very friendly interviewee and never refused to answer questions. After leaving office, his answer became more free.