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Elon Musk at the Axel Springer Awards ceremony in Berlin
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Tesla boss Elon Musk does not rule out a merger of the electric car provider with traditional manufacturers from the industry.
"We will definitely not start a hostile takeover attempt," said Musk on Tuesday at the presentation of the Axel Springer Awards in Berlin.
But if a competitor approaches Tesla with a proposal, it will be discussed.
With the trend towards electromobility, Tesla has become by far the most valuable car manufacturer in the world with a market value of around 550 billion dollars.
The other automakers play in a different league when it comes to market value.
VW is currently worth around 78 billion euros, Daimler a good 60 billion euros and BMW around 44.5 billion euros.
With the completion of the Tesla factory in Grünheide near Berlin, he will spend more time in Germany, said Musk.
The US company plans to build up to 500,000 electric cars per year in the plant from next summer.
In addition, Musk recently announced that parts of the factory will in time also house the world's largest battery production.
The plant should have around 12,000 employees.
Musk also said that in a decade, the majority of new vehicles will have autonomous driving capabilities, he believes.
At the same time, there will be situations in which people like to drive themselves until further notice.
"But it will be increasingly unusual to drive your own car." Tesla's software, which can relieve the driver of controlling the car in most situations, should be ready for the market by the coming year - even if approval could take longer.
Unlike most other developers, Musk wants to do without the more expensive laser radars in autonomous driving and get along with cameras and radar sensors.
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mfu / dpa / Reuters