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