By Senad Karaahmetovic
Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p) CEO believes the German automaker could surpass Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to become the largest seller of electric vehicles (EVs) by 2025, he told media today.
Herbert Diess, Chief Executive Officer of Volkswagen, said he expects easing supply chain constraints to provide a significant boost for the company in the following months.
“Tesla currently is in the lead when it comes to EVs, probably also it is the most digital car company already and they have some advantages,” said Diess. “We are still aiming at keeping up and probably overtaking by 2025 when it comes to sales.”
He added that Tesla has managed to deliver strong performance and high returns with a reliable business model, but he believes that Volkswagen could soon narrow the gap to the U.S. electric carmaker in terms of EV sales.
Diess thinks that ramping up production will be somewhat more difficult for Tesla now.
“They are opening up new plants and we are trying to keep up speed. We think in the second half of the year, we are going to create some momentum,” he said.
Earlier this month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk flagged Volkswagen as Tesla’s biggest EV competitor.
"I think the company making the most progress besides Tesla is actually VW which is not a startup but could be viewed in some ways as a startup from an electric vehicle standpoint. So VW is doing the most on the electric vehicle front,” he told the Financial Times in an interview.
Tesla stock price is down 2.6% in pre-open today.