While some car manufacturers in Germany are still converting from combustion to battery, Tesla has established itself at the forefront of the EV market.
Last month, investors were amazed: After a strong increase in the Tesla share since the end of last year and the interim crash due to the corona crisis in March, the stock posted another strong price gain, overtaking the German carmakers BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler taken together at the stock market value .
But the Californian e-car maker seems to have overtaken the German auto companies not only in terms of market value. While VW, BMW and Co. are converting from the traditional combustion engine to electromobility, Elon Musk has been pursuing this strategy for a long time – if not yet as profitably as the long-established companies in the German automotive industry with their combustion engines. And so Tesla has dominated the electric car market so far this year.
Tesla remains the leader in the electric car market
As the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) of the University of Applied Sciences Bergisch Gladbach reports in its “Electromobility Report 2020”, Tesla was at the forefront in 2019 and in the first quarter of 2020 with the sale of electric cars. In 2019, Tesla was able to deliver 367,500 vehicles – Tesla was clearly ahead of BYD, a competitor from China, that came at second place with 219,000 cars. The Californian electric car manufacturer had planned to deliver over 500,000 cars by 2020. The Corona crisis is now an unexpected hurdle, but the company still believes it is still possible to achieve the 2020 sales targets.
Tesla is a leader in innovation, but VW & Co. are catching up
According to study leader Stefan Bratzel, Tesla “is currently the innovation leader in the field of pure electromobility with a two to three year lead and the benchmark for the other automobile manufacturers”. This applies to the core module of the battery including the charging management, the quick charging infrastructure as well as the software architecture and networking of the vehicle. “Nevertheless, manufacturers like Volkswagen have the potential to catch up with the backlog if they focus consistently” and assume the position as market leader by the mid-2020s, said Bratzel.
According to the CAM, Volkswagen is taking big steps towards Tesla in the area of e-mobility and jumping from 4th to 2nd place, ahead of the Hyundai group, which is advancing to 3rd place. It shares third place with KIA. The Chinese manufacturers BYD and BAIC, on the other hand, are said to have dropped back to fourth and sixth, respectively.
Tesla with competitive advantages
The great innovative strength is attributed to the Tesla, above all due to the Tesla Model S, which shines with a long range and high power consumption efficiency. In addition, last year Tesla further expanded the company’s own quick-charging stations, which, in addition to the attractive models, were one of the manufacturer’s major competitive advantages. Further exciting news about battery technology awaits Tesla fans and investors on “Battery Day”, which is due to take place this year, but has only recently been postponed again. At this event, Tesla CEO Elon Musk should announce new information about the secret roadrunner project. It has been speculated – especially since the takeover of the battery specialist Maxwell – whether Tesla will go into battery production itself, which of course would also give the e-car pioneer some advantages over the competition.
China as an important EV market
According to Jose Pontes at EV Volumes, “Tesla owns the North American EV market and the Volkswagen Group (VAG) is already beating Tesla in Europe” when it comes to dominance in the electric car market. While according to the “Electromobility Report” Europe has so far been able to avoid a corona-related decline in terms of e-car demand – in important European countries the demand for e-cars, including pure electric cars and plug-in hybrids, has increased significantly in January-April compared to the previous year – this picture does not appear everywhere in international comparison.
In China, an important market for EVs (Electric Vehicles), sales declined significantly. China is neutral ground for Tesla as well as VW, and at the same time the most competitive market for electric vehicles in the world with an army of local competitors.
With the start of production of the Model 3 in China, Tesla took over the leadership in China early this year and with a share of 8 percent in the Chinese plug-in market, VW was 4 percent behind Tesla. VW is lacking in attractive EV models with its massive size in China, getting ahead of Tesla will be difficult for VW.
