As the battle for EV market dominance rages on, it is a rare sight to see two major competitors enjoying a bit of constructive discourse. In a recent video conference for Volkswagen executives, VW CEO Herbert Diess invited Tesla CEO and quirky celebrity Elon Musk to come have a chat about the future of electric vehicles. Both Tesla and VW are making big moves in the burgeoning industry, and VW, which aims to be 50 percent electric by 2030, is quickly catching up to Tesla thanks to exciting new models such as the VW ID.4. The German manufacturer still has a lot it can learn from Tesla, and in this rare meeting of minds, we get to hear what Elon thinks of its manufacturing and decision making processes.

Volkswagen has been making good headway into the world of renewable motoring, and has a few interesting ideas around recycling and reusing old batteries, and some ingenious tactics for selling EVS, but it can always learn more. VW CEO Herbert Diess is pushing for a faster pivot to all electric vehicles, and in an effort to convince top level executives, he recently asked Elon Musk to explain why Tesla was able to quickly develop new tech.

Musk responded by saying that it all boiled down to his personal management style, the fact that he's an engineer, and that he has a good eye for production and general logistic flows. That's not a humble brag at all; that's just straight-up boasting, but we wouldn't expect anything less from the guy. Diess used the example of Tesla requiring only a couple of weeks to rewrite software for a new microchip when the previous chip went out of stock.

The statement by Musk led Diess to say that VW needs to cut down on bureaucracy to enable faster decision making and quicker turnaround times when it comes to its EV plans. "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 said on LinkedIn. Diess is all too aware of the fact that Tesla's planned opening of a factory at Grunheide near Berlin will place added pressure on local manufacturers to perform, but remains positive about his company's ability to grow and transform.

"With a new mindset and a revolution in our headquarter Wolfsburg we can succeed in the new competition. Good meeting with 200 top managers in Alpbach. Big responsibility at a crucial point for our company. Thx for joining @ErinMeyerINSEAD and @elonmusk,we will visit you soon in Grunheide," Diess said in a recent tweet.