Volkswagen falls further behind Tesla in the race to electric
Europe’s largest carmaker said Wednesday that it delivered 452,900 battery electric cars to customers in 2021, nearly double its total from the previous year. But that wasn’t enough to It has begun rolling out a series of new models, including the ID.4 electric SUV, but progress last year was hampered by supply chain issues, Volkswagen Group said.”2021 was very challenging due to global semiconductor shortages, but we nevertheless consistently implemented our clear future course,” sales boss Christian Dahlheim said in a statement. “The doubling of our battery-electric volumes and the high demand for all our vehicles clearly show that we are on the right track.”Tesla had its own chip shortage issues during the year but was able to manage them. Elon Musk’s company posted record deliveries in final three months of 2021 of 308,600 vehicles, easily surpassing Wall Street estimates. “Taking a step back, with the chip shortage a major overhang on the auto space and logistical issues globally these [Tesla] delivery numbers were jaw dropping,” Dan Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, said earlier this month.Tesla has forecast that with new factories near Austin, Texas, and Berlin starting full-scale production in 2022, it should have annual global sales growth of 50% or better for at least the next few years.”While there are many competitors in the EV space, Tesla continues to dominate market share as evidenced again this quarter while battling through the chip shortage,” Ives said.— Chris Isidore contributed reporting.
