VW's chief executive has called on the Fiat Chrysler Automobile's Sergio Marchionne to come to him directly to discuss any future deals, rather than making proposals through the media.
His comments come after Marchionne, who has been at the helm of FCA Group for more than a decade, told CNBC at the Geneva Motor Show last week that he expects VW to come to the table to discuss potential joint ventures between the companies.
"Over the past month we were not in contact," Matthias Müller told CNBC, adding "I wouldn't rule out that in the medium or long term we'll talk about anything, basically."
His comments come after French car-maker PSA Group agreed to buy GM's European Opel arm earlier this month, pointing to continued consolidation within the automotive industry as manufacturers battle with increased regulatory hurdles, moves to cleaner technology and autonomous vehicles.
As the car industry looks set to bear the brunt of new trade policies under revised U.S. and EU political frameworks, Müller said his team has been in continued discussions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who he believes will "represent our interests".
Unsatisfactory margins
The German car-maker is struggling to recover from an emissions scandal in 2015, in which it was found to have manipulated emissions tests, resulting in a series of major fines and impacting profitability.
Also speaking to CNBC Tuesday VW's chief financial officer Frank Witter said that the business is managing current "roadblocks" but admitted that nobody could be happy with current profit margins, which are expected to be 4 percent by 2020.
"Nobody can be fully satisfied with a 4 percent margin by 2020 but we only put out numbers which we strongly believe we can deliver," said Witter.
"Once we see us moving with the future and see results, hopefully as early as 2017, we are certainly more than happy to revisit our targets but not without deliverables in the interim and we certainly want to meet what we are promising."