A race is head-to-head for Audi and Tesla. While Tesla is steadily improving, the German premium brand has to fight to stay ahead. Virtually all signs point to 2023 being a pivotal year for its rivals.
Audi has to step up its game: Tesla could pass by in 2023
Tesla has shown it to the long-established car manufacturers and is in many ways the benchmark for electric cars. Audi was also early with the e-tron model and has built a solid reputation among EV customers. But now the German carmaker is falling behind more and more. As early as this year, the Ingolstadt could fall behind Tesla.
A look at the sales figures of the two brands proves this. Audi sold around 1.61 million vehicles in 2022. In the end it went downhill. Tesla on the other hand, new sales records have been breaking for years in a row. Most recently, the electric car manufacturer from the USA has already reached 1.37 million sold vehicles.
Both want to increase, but if the plans work out, the change is due in 2023. Then Tesla overtakes Audi for the first time with a target of 1.8 million units sold – possibly even up to 2 million. Mind you in the total sales, which at Audi will also include a lot of combustion engines for a few years to come.
But it shouldn’t stay that way, Audi is planning a new model offensive: “We’re bringing over twenty models in the next two years, more than half of which will be fully electric,” explains Audi boss Markus Duesmann to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (via automobile week). With the offer one would have already clear the upper hand over Tesla. So far, the US brand has only offered four electric cars, but they are all the more successful. With more choice, Audi wants to reverse the downward trend.
The competition from China is getting tougher for both Audi and Tesla:
Tesla not a role model: price cuts at Audi not on the agenda
But not every means is right for this: “It would be not the right way to go up and down dynamically with the prices”, Audi’s European boss Jens Puttfarcken recently explained to Automobilwoche. There will therefore be no price cuts like those Tesla recently made on its models in order to boost demand – with success. Audi continues to see itself as a premium provider with an obligation to be reliable.
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