It may not be in 2020 that Volkswagen will double Tesla – at least on the number of electric cars sold. While the chairman of the board of the German giant, Herbert Diess, openly displayed at the beginning of the year his hope to “overtake the firm of Elon Musk […] to dominate the electric car market”, the brand has just announced that his flagship model in this area, the ID3 , would only be available in September.
The new 100% electric city car, which has already received 35,000 pre-orders, may be subject to firm reservations from June 17. The models delivered at the start of the school year will not, however, benefit from all the functions: the augmented reality display on the windshield, as well as the “App connect” function, which allows you to download applications, will only be available for a few months. late (and can be installed on vehicles already in circulation).
Herbert Diess sanctioned
Leaders have hitherto hinted that ID3 will be available for the summer – allowing them to say they are not late. They nevertheless explained that on certain functions, such as the navigation system, the pandemic had resulted in difficult working conditions.
The technical problems encountered on ID3 software applications would also be one of the reasons for the ousting of Herbert Diess from the head of the brand , announced earlier this week.
It must be said that the ID3 is an absolutely crucial vehicle for Volkswagen, which has invested colossal sums in electric mobility . Other brands of the giant of Wolfsburg, like Audi, SEAT or Porsche, also have new battery models, but the group is counting on its new city car, which it announces at less than 40,000 euros on the German market, to make volume. This will be essential to achieve the European CO2 emission targets, to be achieved this year so as not to face heavy fines.
The question of CO2 targets
The group already recognizes that the 100,000 sales it hoped for ID3 this year will probably not be there, but it ensures that it will meet its CO2 targets. The question is open. The German auto analyst Matthias Schmidt believes in any case the realistic goal. “They said they needed 6% of the sales to be electric vehicles, they should do it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tesla is quietly continuing its breakthrough in the European market. According to Matthias Schmidt, over the first four months of 2020, the Californian manufacturer totaled 25,500 sales on the Old Continent, ahead of Renault and its ZOE (22,100), and ahead of Volkswagen and its e-Golf (16,900). The match has only just begun.