Volkswagen Is No Longer Bowing Down To Tesla

Volkswagen Is No Longer Bowing Down To Tesla

According to E for Electric, VW Ceo, Herbert Diess, has just announced that it has a plan to beat Tesla in the next 3 years. This would make them the top automaker in 2025. How is this even possible? How could it happen? The ID.4 is manufacturer at as many factories as Tesla has combined.

Tesla's current manufacturing capacity with all factories is about 4 million vehicles right now. VW has been building and converting their factories for EVs as well as investing billions of dollars to ramp them up, including one in Chattanooga, TN. VW's EV output is about half of what Tesla's is right now.

VW has 13 different models, which is triple what Tesla has. E for Electric seems to think this is an advantage, but I don't believe so. I see having a small amount of models being an advantage as that reduces complexity in making and understanding the cars.

Elon Musk revealed who he thinks is second to Tesla in electric cars. He says that the company making the most progress is VW (besides Tesla). When asked this question about which startup was the biggest threat to Tesla, he snubbed Rivian and Lucid from his answer, sharing VW instead.

Affordable EVs

Tesla has raised the prices of their EVs many times and the cheapest Tesla you can get right now is the base version fo the Model 3 for about $46,500. Most people are trying to just get by and spending a lot on a car is difficult.

VW is now offering some of their EVs for under $30,000 (after incentives). The ID.4, made in the U.S., which will start at the Chattanooga, TN, factory, will cost $27,500 after a full EV tax credit from the U.S. I don't expect that range, performance, and features of these vehicles will be anywhere near what a Tesla is though.

If someone passes Tesla, it's not the end of the world for Tesla. There could be one of the "big boys" that passes Tesla, but that won't be a bad thing for Tesla. Tesla just needs to keep growing and building its brand and shooting for a 20% market share by the end of the decade.

Tesla's are an expensive brand of cars and Tesla as a company won't care as long as they continue to see growth. And IF there is a U.S. federal tax credit for buying an electric vehicle, then that will help both VW and Tesla. The E for Electric analysts think that VW is going to pass Tesla eventually - but they didn't mention the enormous amount of debt and ICE business that VW has that will make it difficult for them to do so.

Do you think VW will eventually pass Tesla? Will it be someone else besides VW that passes Tesla?

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Jeremy Johnson is a Tesla investor and supporter. He first invested in Tesla in 2017 after years of following Elon Musk and admiring his work ethic and intelligence. Since then, he's become a Tesla bull, covering anything about Tesla he can find, while also dabbling in other electric vehicle companies. Jeremy covers Tesla developments at Torque News. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow his Tesla news coverage on Torque News.

Image Credit, E For Electric, Screenshot