In September, Tesla almost caught up with Volkswagen in Germany: there were 6,886 Volkswagen Golfs and 6,828 Tesla 3s registered in the country.
Tesla can overtake Volkswagen on its territory
The growing sensation is due to the fact that Volkswagen Golf has dominated this market not for years but for decades as the most desirable car. And it literally became a “people’s car”, which is a literal translation of Volkswagen. The Golf first appeared on the market in 1974, and today the eighth generation Golf is coming off the assembly line. And don’t believe it: Tesla is catching up with the Golf, and in the coming months may well overtake them.
The electric car from the United States seeks to overtake the leader in the German market, which is traditionally sold mainly cars with internal combustion engines – gasoline or diesel. And the biggest paradox is not that cars imported from abroad compete with traditional German Volkswagen, but in the location of the first European plant Tesla, which can start working this year. It was built right in the homeland of “people’s cars” – in Germany.
Yes, sensational statistics apply only to September. Elsewhere, in the first three quarters of this year, Volkswagen Golf is well ahead of Tesla 3 in the number of cars sold and leased. Not to mention that up to 35 million Golfs of eight generations drive on German highways.
But it is not so much the glorious history that is important to assess trends as the obvious changes at the moment. And they worry Volkswagen executives: compared to September last year, sales of their cars fell by 41%, and Tesla – increased by 146%.
Volkswagen is investing heavily in electric vehicles
Is it any wonder that the Volkswagen giant, which competes with Toyota for the title of “the world’s largest automaker”, now considers Tesla such a serious competitor that it and its subsidiaries are feverishly developing their own electric cars? In August, VW ID3 even managed to overtake Tesla 3 in the segment of battery EV, and in the first half of the year the best-selling EV in the German market was another Volkswagen model – a small VW Up.
At the same time, another Volkswagen brand, Porsche, is gaining ground in the luxury car class. In September, in the homeland of Porsche managed to win a very symbolic victory. In the most expensive and prestigious segment of the automotive market, where Mercedes S-Class with internal combustion engines still dominated, Porsche suddenly took the lead – and with a fully electric Taikan sedan.