Wow. Back in 2017, Volkswagen’s CEO absolutely ridiculed Elon Musk and Tesla with a breathtaking level of arrogance, compounded by that typically German air of smug superiority. Here's a translation: "Well, I suppose I have to say a few words about Tesla. With all due respect, there are companies out there that are world champions at making grand announcements. I won't name names. There are companies that struggle to sell 80,000 cars a year. Volkswagen sold 11 million that year. Then there are companies like Volkswagen that generate €13 or €14 billion in annual profits. And if I'm correctly informed, Tesla is burning through hundreds of millions of euros every quarter, while firing employees whenever it feels like it. As for any sense of social responsibility, I'm not sure where that comes into the picture. So I would ask everyone to get a sense of perspective here and stop comparing apples with oranges." Nine years later, Volkswagen is heading for the scrapheap of history, while Elon is making cars fly.