VW's race with Tesla will be tight, Diess says

BERLIN -- Tesla works at twice the industry pace in many processes but still needs to ramp up highly complex factories and find qualified workers to win the electric-vehicle race, Volkswagen Group's CEO, Herbert Diess, said.

The U.S. automaker, posing a challenge to German EV production with its new plant near Berlin, had the advantage of a new start and a small number of models, Diess said, making it easier to scale.

But his own company VW was also speeding up, Diess said.

"There's a lot coming from our side too... a lot of momentum. It will certainly be tight in coming years," Diess said, speaking at a car industry conference in Bochum, Germany.