Tesla Founder Elon Musk has announced his plans to build the fourth Tesla Gigafactory just outside of Berlin.
Even though Germany is known for its car manufacturers and high-quality engineering, the German car manufacturing has been pushed back from companies that started earlier in developing electric vehicle technologies. keyboard_arrow_down
One of these companies is Tesla. The Company’s Model 3 outsold all German competitors in the European as well as the U.S. markets last year.
Additionally, the German auto industry is now at a 22-year low.
Since Tesla is now locating its newest Gigafactory in Germany, it’s worth to take a closer look at the Company’s German competitors and their latest news regarding new energy vehicles.
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA)
Tesla's advantage in the new energy car market is not only that the Company’s focus is set on electric vehicles only, but also the way the manufacturer created a cult-like enthusiasm around its brand.
Tesla’s latest models include the Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model S, as well as the Tesla Model X.
What is the answer of German auto manufacturers to Tesla?
Volkswagen AG (XETRA: VOW.DE)
VW has delivered more than 250,000 electric vehicles including pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids and made the most promising forecast under the german car manufacturers, when stating to release not one but three electric vehicles in the next three years in the U.S.
The Company’s models available on the German market include the VW Golf VII e-Golf and VW e-up!.
Bayrishe Motoren Werke AG (XETRA: BMW.DE)
BMW offers in the new energy car sector three types of propulsion systems, the powertrain of a combustion engine, that of a plug-in hybrid or a fully electric vehicle.
The latest BMW electric models include the 2019 BMW i3, 2020 BMW i8 and the 2020 MINI Cooper.
Daimler AG (XETRA: DAI.DE)
Daimler AG, commonly known and referred to as Mercedes, has announced to postpone its EQC Compact-SUV release that was planned for early 2020, to early 2021.
The EQC model would’ve been the manufacturer's first all-electric car available on the U.S. market.
A brief survey of the market:
The demand for new energy vehicle is in general pretty flat, due to consumer fears of a too short range, due to hard reachable charging points, high costs, appearance and non volatile gasoline prices.
However, Tesla is the only manufacturer that doesn’t seem to be bothered by these fears. Tesla transformed its electric vehicles into a lifestyle object, a status symbol and therefore created a product and brand that other new energy car manufacturers failed to deliver.
But European car manufacturers have to sell at last two million electric vehicles until the end of 2021, to avoid fines from the European Union, which implies that they are likely trying to increase sales in the new energy car sector and fight competitors like Tesla.
The best-case scenario for German automakers with Tesla’s arrival in Germany, would enhance innovation through the increased competition and cause private-sector investments to surge.
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