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Summary
- Volkswagen’s eyes set on EV space, launching ID.4 SUV to emerge as greener automaker.
- German manufacturer is converting its existing factories to dedicated electric car manufacturing factories in order to meet the demand.
- Meanwhile, Tesla plans to manufacture approximately 2 million electric vehicles annually; its Berlin factory will operate from 2021.
- German auto giant has risen impressively from the ashes of the Dieselgate scandal.
To save itself from extinction and recover its damaged image from the Dieselgate scandal, Volkswagen (VW) perhaps has the only option but to come out stronger as a greener automaker and reinvent its brand position in the market. Notably, Volkswagen has shifted its focus on fully embraced electrification model.
EV industry leader Tesla's electric SUV will soon face the competition from largest German car manufacturer Volkswagen for the first time. One significant advantage Tesla has over VW is that its Model Y vehicle is already in the market since early this year and delivering thousands of cars to the customers.
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Volkswagen's ID.4 is set to arrive in the first quarter of 2021. The 1st Edition of ID.4 is already sold out which costs around US$43,995.
Volkswagen is offering a less-expensive ID.4 Pro option which will be available in the market around mid-2021. The rear-drive, rear-engined ID.4 Pro will start at US$39,995, while ID.4 at US$43,995. There is another ID.4 model with the price of US$35,000 will be manufactured in the US at Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tennessee plant and the car will be available in 2022.
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The Volkswagen ID.4 electronic SUV
Volkswagen ID.4 electric SUV was recently launched, and its ID.3 vehicle model is currently leading the record of EV sales in the most successful electronic vehicle market.
As per the September data, Norway has broken another milestone with having 60 per cent market share in electronic vehicle auto sale. On the top of that, newcomer Volkswagen ID.3 outnumbered Tesla Model 3 and the Polestar in September. It sold 1,974 units in the Norway market.
The customers will receive three years of free fast-charging with Electrify America, the nation's biggest DC fast-charging network
Is Volkswagen catching up with Tesla?
German manufacturer Volkswagen believes that it can match up to Tesla's speed in its mass production capacity for electric vehicles. Volkswagen's worker union Head recently said to a German media house that VW could produce 1.5 million electric cars by 2023 or even before that.
Currently, Tesla has the highest number, producing two electric vehicle factories in the world. Fremont factory is in California, US and Gigafactory is in Shanghai, China.
Other EV players in the market have also sped up their production. Still, Volkswagen, on the other side, is converting its existing factories to dedicated electric car manufacturing factories to catch up with the demand.
The first historic Zwickau plant was recently transformed into a fully EV assembly factory. Earlier the factory produced all internal combustion-engined vehicles. VW's Hannover facility is also switching to handle EVs.
Volkswagen is currently heavily investing in making EVs and targeting to overtake the world's most valuable automaker, Tesla.
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Tesla's production in full speed
Volkswagen's MEB platform, which is a modular car platform, may lead the company ahead of Tesla. Tesla recently reported increasing its production capacity more than its existing capacity of 700,000 vehicles.
Before the year ends, Model 3 and Model Y production will be substantially increased at its Fremont plant by 100,000 units to 500,000 units. Shanghai Gigafactory currently exclusively manufactures Model 3s. It will now double its production number of 200,000 vehicles as it will also build Model Y in 2021.
Tesla recently announced a new electric vehicle Gigafactory in Berlin which will be constructed and start functioning in July 2021. The Berlin Gigafactory will produce around 500,000 cars per year. With the new factory production, Tesla will manufacture approximately 2 million electric vehicles annually.
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Friendly competition between Tesla and Volkswagen?
Tesla's founder and CEO Elon Musk recently visited Germany and took the new ID.3 for a drive, and the passenger's seat had Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess.
Diess also went on a drive with Tesla Model Y, which left him entirely impressed. He said that in terms of user experience, vehicle features left him in awe. Also, the car's performance and ability to receive air updates are riveting. Car's charging network is also unique.
After publicly praising the rival company's vehicles, Volkswagen-Tesla partnership rumours were spreading like fire, but they were rejected very soon.
Bottomline
Now that Volkswagen is planning to overthrow Tesla from the leader's seat, it will be interesting to see if the company can overtake the EV leader in the coming years. German auto giant has risen impressively from the ashes of the Dieselgate scandal.
Experts believe that it could also be because Volkswagen is already an established automobile maker in the field for more than 80 Years.
Besides, the company has kick-started its mission to stop building ICE passenger cars and manufacture fully electric vehicles.
Volkswagen also announced that it will launch its last ever generation of fuel-based engines and platforms in the year 2026. After which, Volkswagen plans to shift its focus entirely on manufacturing electric vehicles.
