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Agencies
Volkswagen is falling further behind Tesla in the race to dominate the market for electric cars.
Europe’s largest carmaker said Wednesday that it delivered 452,900 battery electric cars to customers in 2021, nearly double its total from the previous year. But that wasn’t enough to keep pace with Tesla, which delivered over 936,000 vehicles in 2021.
In total, Tesla boosted its deliveries last year by roughly 436,600 compared to an increase of 220,900 for the Volkswagen Group, which owns brands including Audi, Porsche and Skoda.
The German company has committed to spending more than $100 billion over the next five years to electrify its fleet and mount a challenge to Tesla. Volkswagen is already the top seller of electric cars in Europe, and it expects 25% of the vehicles it sells globally to be electric by 2026.
It has begun rolling out a series of new models, including the ID.4 electric SUV, but progress last year was hampered by supply chain issues, Volkswagen Group said.
“2021 was very challenging due to global semiconductor shortages, but we nevertheless consistently implemented our clear future course,” sales boss Christian Dahlheim said in a statement. “The doubling of our battery-electric volumes and the high demand for all our vehicles clearly show that we are on the right track.”
Tesla had its own chip shortage issues during the year but was able to manage them. Elon Musk’s company posted record deliveries in final three months of 2021 of 308,600 vehicles, easily surpassing Wall Street estimates.
“Taking a step back, with the chip shortage a major overhang on the auto space and logistical issues globally these [Tesla] delivery numbers were jaw dropping,” Dan Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, said earlier this month.
Tesla has forecast that with new factories near Austin, Texas, and Berlin starting full-scale production in 2022, it should have annual global sales growth of 50% or better for at least the next few years.
“While there are many competitors in the EV space, Tesla continues to dominate market share as evidenced again this quarter while battling through the chip shortage,” Ives said.
Tesla in India
Tesla is working through a lot of challenges with the government to launch its products in India, the electric car major’s founder and CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday.
Responding to a tweet on the company’s plans to launch its products in India, Musk tweeted: “Still working through a lot of challenges with the government”.
Last year, Tesla had sought a reduction in import duties on electric vehicles (EVs) in India.
The heavy industries ministry had asked the electric car major to first start manufacturing its iconic electric vehicles in India before any tax concessions can be considered.
The government sources had noted that they were not giving such concessions to any auto firm, and giving duty benefits to Tesla will not send a good signal to other companies that have invested billions of dollars in India.
At present, cars imported as completely built units (CBUs) attract customs duty, ranging from 60 to 100 per cent, depending on the engine size and cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value less or above $40,000.
In a letter to the road ministry, the US firm had last year said that the effective import tariff of 110 per cent on vehicles with customs value above $40,000 is “prohibitive” to zero-emission vehicles.
The electric car major had requested the government to standardise the tariff on electric cars to 40 per cent, irrespective of the customs value, and withdraw the social welfare surcharge of 10 per cent on such vehicles.
Volkswagen is falling further behind Tesla in the race to dominate the market for electric cars.
Europe’s largest carmaker said Wednesday that it delivered 452,900 battery electric cars to customers in 2021, nearly double its total from the previous year. But that wasn’t enough to keep pace with Tesla, which delivered over 936,000 vehicles in 2021.
In total, Tesla boosted its deliveries last year by roughly 436,600 compared to an increase of 220,900 for the Volkswagen Group, which owns brands including Audi, Porsche and Skoda.
The German company has committed to spending more than $100 billion over the next five years to electrify its fleet and mount a challenge to Tesla. Volkswagen is already the top seller of electric cars in Europe, and it expects 25% of the vehicles it sells globally to be electric by 2026.
It has begun rolling out a series of new models, including the ID.4 electric SUV, but progress last year was hampered by supply chain issues, Volkswagen Group said.
“2021 was very challenging due to global semiconductor shortages, but we nevertheless consistently implemented our clear future course,” sales boss Christian Dahlheim said in a statement. “The doubling of our battery-electric volumes and the high demand for all our vehicles clearly show that we are on the right track.”
Tesla had its own chip shortage issues during the year but was able to manage them. Elon Musk’s company posted record deliveries in final three months of 2021 of 308,600 vehicles, easily surpassing Wall Street estimates.
“Taking a step back, with the chip shortage a major overhang on the auto space and logistical issues globally these [Tesla] delivery numbers were jaw dropping,” Dan Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, said earlier this month.
Tesla has forecast that with new factories near Austin, Texas, and Berlin starting full-scale production in 2022, it should have annual global sales growth of 50% or better for at least the next few years.
“While there are many competitors in the EV space, Tesla continues to dominate market share as evidenced again this quarter while battling through the chip shortage,” Ives said.
Tesla in India
Tesla is working through a lot of challenges with the government to launch its products in India, the electric car major’s founder and CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday.
Responding to a tweet on the company’s plans to launch its products in India, Musk tweeted: “Still working through a lot of challenges with the government”.
Last year, Tesla had sought a reduction in import duties on electric vehicles (EVs) in India.
The heavy industries ministry had asked the electric car major to first start manufacturing its iconic electric vehicles in India before any tax concessions can be considered.
The government sources had noted that they were not giving such concessions to any auto firm, and giving duty benefits to Tesla will not send a good signal to other companies that have invested billions of dollars in India.
At present, cars imported as completely built units (CBUs) attract customs duty, ranging from 60 to 100 per cent, depending on the engine size and cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value less or above $40,000.
In a letter to the road ministry, the US firm had last year said that the effective import tariff of 110 per cent on vehicles with customs value above $40,000 is “prohibitive” to zero-emission vehicles.
The electric car major had requested the government to standardise the tariff on electric cars to 40 per cent, irrespective of the customs value, and withdraw the social welfare surcharge of 10 per cent on such vehicles.
