Potential headwinds include getting the consent of Volkswagen’s controlling Piech and Porsche families to fund the purchase of the stake.

Denying a media report, which stated Volkswagen’s CEO Herbert Diess as wanting to purchase a stake in Tesla, the German carmaker stated, it was not interested in doing so.

“The speculation about buying a stake in Tesla made by Manager Magazin is without merit,” said Volkswagen’s spokesman.

Manager Magazin has reported, with Diess meeting Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk on a regular basis due to Tesla’s expertise in software and battery cell design, and that Tesla had so far rebuffed Volkswagen’s efforts at striking an alliance.

“Diess would go in right away if he could,” reported the magazine citing an anonymous source at Volkswagen.

“Acquiring a stake would be enough for the German carmaker to access Tesla’s technological expertise”, stated the report.

A possible obstacle to the deal could be getting the consent of Volkswagen’s controlling Piech and Porsche families to fund the purchase of the stake reported the magazine.

As per a banker close to Volkswagen, although Diess would love to have Tesla’s software developers, it would be very expensive to justify shelling $30 billion (27 billion euros) to acquire Tesla.