Economic Minister Chides German Automakers For Not Rising To The Tesla Threat

Not rising to the threat? LOL. The Germans are about to vanquish the garbage from Fremont.

We've been hearing this for three years now, how are those Audis and Porsches doing anyways?

@MD If the high end sedan offerings like the Taycan and the Audi version of it do even 1/2 the numbers the Panamera and A8 do, Tesla really does not have a lot of worry about. Same goes for any high priced EV SUV from the same makers. My guess is they will only do a small fraction of their ICE counterparts.

I'd predict the opposite. You couple the desirability of the Porsche name with the greener-than-thou, nose-uppity attitude of a Model S owner and you have a most desirable product in the Taycan. It would not surprise me if the Taycan ruins the Panamera for sales.

@MD I think the Panamera does 6000 units or so a year in the USA. The S-Class about 16,000 and the Model S about 28,000. I can certainly see the Taycan cannibalizing Panamera sales. But will Porsche owners what a car that hums along or has piped in fake exhaust sounds a-la BMW?

Be afraid, be very afraid!

GF4 will be built right in the Germans' backyard. Wear your diapers because Tesla is coming for you.

#BS
Model S or Porsche Taycan? #Taycan
and so on

The German Government is now very afraid of their bread and butter auto industry being replaced by Tesla, All-American Know-how built with Military-Grade Electronics. They are scared of being replaced by Tesla. And this official straight from the German Government says what I have been saying for a long time here. The recent unveilings are an embarrasment. E-tron, Bmw i-whatever, Benz WTF all lack the necessary range to compete with Tesla, lack the performance, and are going to sticker shock the out-the-door price.

Last Year - Tesla sold about 3300 cars in Germany - VW sold over 4500 E-Golfs - and the Bmw I3 also sold about the same. Tesla is NOT a threat - the market for EVs in Germany really does not exist - and that is the point. WE still do not know - when all these EVs come to market - if ANY of them will sell in profitable numbers. We still do not have an idea of how many sales the Model 3 will have monthly AFTER the initial deposits are fulfilled.

Around the world - remember - the Nissan Leaf outsells all TEslas as well. THere is still a severe shortage of Infrastructure to support any large amounts of electric cars.

You do realize that the Leaf, eGolf and I3 are far less expensive than on average right?? You honestly think that if tesla sold a $30k vehicle it would be sitting on lots unsold?!

Wrong Tom. The Model 3 will easily outsell the Leaf this year. Worldwide. Even though it's only on sale in the US and Canada.

Can you imagine how dominant it will be next year when sales roll out in Europe and Asia?

For a company that is not a threat, Tesla certainly does command a large share of Autospies' articles and insane rantings in the comments section.

Autospies is a different business. They make money on clicks and they have figured out that the opinion war around EVs and ICE is a great way to make $. There is no correlation to the number of articles and amount of comments and the ultimate success or failure of Tesla.

Insecurity and jealousy can drive people to react like they do. Herd mentality - or MAGA Mob mentality to be more accurate - also gives them the "courage" to express their anger and ill will toward anything Tesla.

Again, the recent large sales numbers for Tesla were filling order backlogs. Recently they are selling about 1000 model 3s per week. Hardly taking over the industry. The major automakers have access to the same technology as Tesla, however it would be irresponsible to their shareholders to spend valuable capital to rush a car to market that cannot make money. This is the reason other automakers are intentionally limiting their numbers.

By your ridiculous count, Tesla will sell 8,000 Model 3's in November and December.

Wanna bet it's much, much more than that?

No?

Didn't think so.

The Model 3 will likely outsell the Mustang GLOBALLY this year. In 2019 it will sell more than 2x this number. And the Mustang is the only car platform left for Ford.

Tesla doesn't need to compete against other EVs. It's ICE they are after. That's why the German are afraid.

Talk about a dimwitted apples-to-oranges comparison. You're comparing a niche coupe to a mainstream sedan.

Not sure where you got that number from, but they are delivering 7k cars a week consistently right now. A sale is a customer paying the full price and taking delivery of the car.

The only way to resolve this argument is for Tesla to publicize the net order backlog of the Model 3. Say order backlog as of 1/1/18 - shipments YTD- reservation cancellations YTD + new orders YTD as the end of each month. Tesla guys can you put those numbers together for all to see?

First they gassed everyone and now the Germans want to electrify us? Oh Scheibe!!!

California just released registration figures, Tesla is now at the same sales-rate as Lexus in the state and is just shy of BMW. The threat is very real.

Relax people. That was a joke and I am German so I can make fun of my heritage time to time...

I think only Louis C. K. can get away with dark jokes like that, and probably not anymore lol