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VW dealer in attack mode: "We will overtake Tesla quickly"

2020-08-31T10:07:15.080Z


For a long time, Volkswagen did not respond to the Californian e-car pioneer Tesla. But now the largest car manufacturer in the world is going to strike back.


For a long time, Volkswagen did not respond to the Californian e-car pioneer Tesla. But now the largest car manufacturer in the world is going to strike back.

  • E-car pioneer Tesla has put the German carmaker under pressure.
  • The Californians are now worth five times as much as Volkswagen on the stock exchange .
  • But now the Wolfsburg go over to the counterattack . According to VW dealers , the winner in the duel has been determined.

Munich - The German Volkswagen dealers have high hopes for the imminent market launch of the fully electric ID.3 . "Many market observers will be amazed at how quickly we will overtake Tesla with the ID.3," said the head of the German Volkswagen and Audi dealer association Dirk Weddigen von Knapp to Merkur.de.

The ID.3 will be delivered from the beginning of September. With the car that VW boss Herbert Diess was on vacation with, the world's largest automaker heralds the electric future. The ID.3 plays a central role in this.

The Golf- sized Stromer is the first model from the so-called modular electrification kit (MEB). Volkswagen intends to develop a total of around 30 vehicles on this platform. The Wolfsburg-based company wants to sell around 20 million MEB-based cars by 2030.

VW: Demand for ID.3 has "far exceeded" expectations

The dealers are accordingly electrified. The demand for the ID.3 “far exceeded” expectations, said Weddigen. The delivery time is now "around four months" instead of the four to six weeks usual for most models. The ID.3 with the smaller 45 kWh battery is already "almost sold out" for the current year.

However, the bar is not set too high. From January to July, Tesla sold around 4,500 vehicles of its by far most popular Model 3 in Germany. 

VW: The market for e-vehicles in Germany is picking up speed

But now the market for e-cars is really picking up speed. Above all, the increased government purchase premiums for e-cars due to the Corona crisis are driving demand. Customers who buy a Stromer with a list price of up to 40,000 euros receive a discount of 9,000 euros. Previously, the environmental bonus was a total of 6,000 euros, 3,000 euros of which are paid by the manufacturers.

"Just as VW has to transform itself into a tech company, the car dealerships also have to adapt to the new mobility world. The advancing digitization and electrification will fundamentally change our business," says our CEO Ralf Brandstätter on @LinkedInDACH.

- Volkswagen News (@volkswagen) August 25, 2020

For many people interested in electric cars, the workshop network plays a central role in the purchase decision, in addition to the extra bonus and an attractive offer. According to the industry , Tesla , whose boss Elon Musk is also working on the symbiosis between man and machine, still has “considerable catching up to do”. According to an overview on the Tesla website, there are currently ten service centers in Germany. Four more are to be opened soon.

According to the dealers' association, VW and Audi bring it together to a total of 2000 companies nationwide. Last year the VW and Audi dealers and workshops with their 100,000 employees achieved a total turnover of "around 45 billion euros", explained Weddigen.

VW: Severe setback in new car sales due to Corona

Similar to their competitors, the VW and Audi dealers are also heading for a major setback this year. In view of the interruptions in production and the closings of car dealerships in the spring, dealers would have to complain about a "loss of sales of at least three months," said Weddigen.

Business has been picking up noticeably since July. From a year-to-year perspective, however, the drop in sales from the first half of the year “can hardly be made up”. Across the industry, the minus in new vehicle sales in the current year will therefore be “20 to 25 percent”. The VW and Audi companies would also have to adjust to this, said Weddigen.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-08-31

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