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VW Plans to Sell Electric Tesla Rival for Less than $23,000

posted by martyb on Friday November 09 2018, @05:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the elektrowagen dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Reuters:

Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) intends to sell electric cars for less than 20,000 euros ($22,836) and protect German jobs by converting three factories to make Tesla (TSLA.O) rivals, a source familiar with the plans said.

VW and other carmakers are struggling to adapt quickly enough to stringent rules introduced after the carmaker was found to have cheated diesel emissions tests, with its chief executive Herbert Diess warning last month that Germany's auto industry faces extinction.

Plans for VW's electric car, known as "MEB entry" and with a production volume of 200,000 vehicles, are due to be discussed at a supervisory board meeting on Nov. 16, the source said.

Fallout from cheating on diesel emissions tests continues. If German automakers, of which VW is the largest, switch to electric vehicles (EVs), will other car companies have to follow suit?

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 09 2018, @07:09PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 09 2018, @07:09PM (#760017)

    VW "intend" to make/sell a car.
    Tesla already have one selling like hotcakes.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 10 2018, @03:26AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 10 2018, @03:26AM (#760221)

    Audi (VW upscale brand) also intend to sell EVs. First one due in 2019 is a mid-size SUV, larger than any Tesla, so going for a different piece of the luxury market.

    Article I saw recently indicated Audi are looking at brute-forcing the fast-charging issue, with future plans to charge at 350KW (yes, ~1/3 megawatt, or 470hp). That kind of power isn't available just anywhere on the grid, not sure how that's going to work out.

  • (Score: 2) by Blymie on Saturday November 10 2018, @09:29AM

    by Blymie (4020) on Saturday November 10 2018, @09:29AM (#760290)

    Indeed.

    And their intentions aren't even solid yet, just "We're thinking of converting some plants" to make them.

    On top of that? Looking at a few articles I discovered this : "MEB entry" is their platform. But I can't get any solid specs, except for old press releases on range and such.

    And here's the thing....

    Tesla has a HIGH profit margin:

    https://evannex.com/blogs/news/tesla-model-3-profit-target-is-5x-higher-than-the-average-vehicle-from-ford [evannex.com]

    Now, this makes sense. All that initial R&D has to be paid back somehow. But it *also* means that VWs pricing?

    Can likely be met instantly, should Tesla decide so.

    And this is all still years away. Meaning Tesla may already have continued to scale up, started to really ship numbers, and have dropped pricing lower all on its own.

    If handled right, this isn't even remotely an issue.