In September, Tesla almost overtook Volkswagen in sales in Germany: 6,886 Volkswagen Golf cars and 6,828 Tesla 3 cars were registered in the country. The German media paid close attention to this statistic and assessed it as definite proof that dramatic changes are taking place in the domestic car market.
Tesla can overtake Volkswagen on its own territory
The growing sensation is due to the fact that the Volkswagen Golf has dominated this market not for years, but for decades as the most preferred car. And it has literally become a “people’s car”, as is the literal translation of “Volkswagen”. The Golf first appeared on the market in 1974, and today the eighth generation of golf is coming off the assembly line. And won’t you: “Tesla” is catching up with the golfs, and in the coming months it may overtake them.
An electric car from the United States is about to overtake the leader in the German market, which traditionally sells mostly cars with internal combustion engines – gasoline or diesel. And the biggest paradox is not that imported overseas cars are competing with the traditional German Volkswagen, but in the location of Tesla’s first European plant, which may start operating this year. It was built in the homeland of “people’s cars” – Germany.
Yes, the sensational statistics only apply to September. Otherwise, for the first three quarters of the year, Volkswagen Golf is significantly ahead of Tesla 3 in the number of cars sold and leased. Not to mention that as many as 35 million golfs from the eight generations travel 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 are worried about Volkswagen’s management: compared to September last year, sales of their cars fell by 41% and Tesla’s increased by 146%.
Volkswagen is investing heavily in electric cars
Is it any wonder then that the giant Volkswagen, which is competing with Toyota for the title of “largest carmaker” in the world, now considers Tesla to be such a serious competitor that it is feverishly developing its own electric cars with its subsidiaries? ? In August, the VW ID3 even managed to overtake the Tesla 3 in the battery-powered electric car segment, and in the first half of the year, the best-selling electric car on the German market was another Volkswagen model, the small VW Up.
At the same time, in the luxury car class, another brand of the Volkswagen concern, Porsche, is pushing for the leading position. In September, at home, Porsche managed to achieve a very symbolic victory. In the most expensive and prestigious segment of the car market, where S-Class Mercedes with internal combustion engines have so far reigned supreme, the leadership has suddenly taken over the Porsche – and with an all-electric limousine – the Taikan model.
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