Volkswagen has big ambitions as one of the world’s top electric vehicle manufacturers. The German company is targeting to produce 800,000 electric cars this year. The target is referred to as an effort to compete with Tesla as the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer.
Previously, Volkswagen revealed that new buyers who place orders for the rest of the year will have to wait until 2023 to get their electric vehicles.
Volkswagen Sales Head Hildegard Wortmann said Volkswagen plans to produce 1.3 million electric cars by 2023.
“It will be tough competition but we will not give up,” said Hildegard Wortmann,
If the production target of 800,000 electric vehicles is achieved, Volkswagen will become the second-largest electric vehicle producer behind Tesla.
Tesla itself targets to produce 930,422 electric vehicles by 2022 and deliver 936,172 units.
Previously Tesla CEO Elon Musk says Volkswagen is making the most progress on EVs besides Tesla. Musk said Volkswagen is an old car manufacturer that is growing rapidly in the electric vehicle industry. Musk is even reluctant to compare VW with other electric vehicle startups such as Rivian, Lucid, and Nio.
“I have to say that we didn’t expect our main competitor to be so fast and ready to produce EVs,” said Wortmann.
Volkswagen chief executive Herbert Diess previously acknowledged that overtaking Tesla as the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer by 2025 will not be easy. But he reaffirmed Volkswagen’s vision to surpass Tesla.
