Since Tesla owns 50%, according to VW. VW Boss: Tesla Controls 50% Of EV Market, We're Aiming For The Rest
They still just don't get it. If they build a compelling vehicle that happens to be an EV, they will take almost no market from Tesla. They will grow the size of the EV market, and take market away from ICE vehicles. As long as they follow through with the compelling EV, it doesn't really matter I suppose.
Original source: Volkswagen of America CEO: We Need to Win Back True Believers - Motor Trend Bob Wilson
So you have a choice of two cars, One from a major manufacturer with a traditional dealer network. One without. Suppose they are about equal in price and range. Will Tesla be able to manufacture at the same cost as VW? Quality? Will Teslas service and parts network be better than VW's? VW will surely start with less of a charging network but will the Tesla proprietary network be a plus or a minus in 5 years? Will Tesla's uniquenesses (OTA updates, etc) still be unique? What will networks and phones be like then? Who will be more autonomous? Who will be old and staid and who will be the hot new thing?
The Supercharger network is going to be a plus for longer than 5 years. The majority of other DC fast chargers out there now are less than 50kW. That means half the speed of a Supercharger, thus longer charger times. If newer chargers are faster than that, the max kW for CHAdeMO and CCS are still less than Supercharger's. VW appears to be making a big push into BEVs, and Ford might join them, but they aren't going to be a threat to Tesla when they arrive. The first VW on the new platform doesn't come to Europe until the end of this year. It will one to two years before they come to the US. That's more time for Tesla to expand the charger and service networks. Tesla has always been open to partnering with others for Supercharger access. They are diversified outside of cars. No one else is even talking about plug in commercial trucks outside of short range/local use. The Gigafactories mean they could be suppliers for others. VW doesn't have that type of battery supply, and have allowances in their battery pack design for using different cell types because of that. Without a front trunk, the VW BEVs will be snub nosed. People may like the extra cabin space, or they may be turned off by the car's profile, or they may want the extra cargo space of a frunk.
VW has burned to many bridges in the US with their products, service and TCO. Tesla has nothing to worry about.
wdub buyers won't buy ev's which will leave them trying to sell to people who don't like them to begin with. will be interesting, if they actually produce one.
VW has been through this before. They've made massive fundamental changes to their cars and abandoned huge swaths of their customers... only to be rewarded with legions of new customers who had never really paid attention before. I swore off of Volkswagens when they started using liquid coolant and front-mounted engines. At the same time their feature content went sharply up-market and completely changed the character, perception and price category of their products. And guess what? They grew! They sold a whole bunch of cars to new customers who loved them and kept buying more. So... if any automaker can handle a wholesale swap-out of their customer base, I say it's VW.
I don't believe in VW really wanting to get the other 50%. Tesla builds their batteries (with Panasonic), while the VW group has made clear that gets theirs from other suppliers.
unt you vill drive it . . . . unt you vill LIKE it !!! - i must admit . . . after they blew away ALL the competition at the grueling hill clime in Colorado - i stopped mocking (almost) everything about the company. but i am still suspicious whether they monkeyed with the official's time clock. .
