VW E-Mobility Boss: Tesla Has 10-Year Head Start On EVs

Volkswagen was not too interested in EVs 10 years ago, so now it’s catch up time.

Volkswagen seems to give a lot of respect to Tesla. Not only does the CEO Herbert Diess appreciate Tesla’s achievements, but also Thomas Ulbrich, Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Brand responsible for E-Mobility, praises the California automaker too.

Ulbrich recently noted that Tesla is “an impressive manufacturer” and that it has a 10-year head start (in terms of EV hardware and software), but Volkswagen is “very quick in catching up”.

“Tesla is an impressive manufacturer. It is a motivator for us. Tesla has 10 years more experience. But we are very quick in catching up.”

We don’t know the future, but Volkswagen really accelerated and in 2019 increased its plug-in car sales by about 60% to over 80,000, while the broader Volkswagen Group improved by plug-in sales by 80% to over 140,000.

It will be very interesting also because Volkswagen’s push into BEVs will force other automotive groups to develop all-electric platform and scale up EV production to stay competitive.

It remains to be seen if VW can catch Tesla, but it seems the automaker is at least giving it a go.

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