Tesla eyes annual sales of 10,000 EVs in Germany
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-10-23/vw-ceo-says-germany-s-1-million-electric-car-goal-is-achievable VW CEO Says Germany’s 1 Million Electric-Car Goal Is Achievable By Christoph Rauwald October 23, 2013 Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest carmaker, said the German government’s goal to have 1 million electric cars on the country’s roads by 2020 can be achieved if partly battery-powered cars like hybrids are taken into account. “We will make our contribution toward this goal,” Volkswagen Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn said today at a panel discussion at a ceremony near chemical producer BASF SE’s headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Plug-in hybrids, which can switch between rechargeable battery power and conventional combustion engines, “offer the biggest market potential,” and should help with a rollout of electric mobility on a larger scale, Winterkorn said. The CEO reiterated Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen’s plan to offer as many as 40 electric or hybrid models in the event that demand for low-emission cars takes off. The manufacturer will produce 14 vehicles with alternative drive through next year after introducing electric versions of the Golf hatchback and Up! city car at the Frankfurt auto show last month. Volkswagen also showed new plug-in hybrid versions of the Porsche brand’s Panamera four-door coupe and Audi’s A3 compact. VW’s move echoes initiatives by peers such as Nissan Motor Co. and General Motors Co. to promote purely electric and hybrid cars, which help automakers comply with tightening fleetwide emission regulations across the globe. Corporate enthusiasm for alternative-drive engines has failed to translate into significant sales amid consumers’ concerns that powering systems offer only limited distance before a recharge is required and objections to higher prices. German Registrations Purely or partly battery-powered vehicles accounted for 4,157 new car registrations in Germany in 2012, about twice as many as the year before, according to the VDA auto-industry association. Germany’s new car market amounts to about 3 million vehicles a year. VW’s e-Up! went on sale in Germany this month for 26,900 euros ($37,000). The model is “deliberately positioned” against the battery-powered i3 city car that Munich-based Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) is bringing out, Rudolf Krebs, head of electric-powertrain technology at VW, said on Sept. 4. BMW, the world’s biggest luxury-vehicle manufacturer, presented the i3 in Frankfurt last month, as well as a plug-in hybrid version of the X5 sport-utility vehicle. The i3, priced at 34,950 euros, will enter showrooms in Germany in November. BMW’s Strategy Plug-in hybrids have the most potential and BMW plans to eventually offer one in every model line, Herbert Diess, the automaker’s development chief, said in an interview last month. Cars with electromobility will make up 5 percent to 10 percent of the market by 2020 from well under 1 percent now, Diess said. Other alternative-drive vehicles shown at the Frankfurt auto show included an all-electric Mercedes-Benz B-Class crossover from Daimler AG (DAI) that will use a drivetrain supplied by Palo Alto, California-based Tesla Motors, and a hybrid coupe prototype from Volvo Car Group … [© 2013 Bloomberg] http://www.autonews.com/article/20131026/OEM05/131029904/tesla-eyes-annual-sales-of-10000-cars-in-germany-musk-says#axzz2itYDOWST Tesla eyes annual sales of 10,000 cars in Germany, Musk says October 26, 2013 - FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Electric car maker Tesla Motors is aiming to sell around 10,000 cars a year in Germany by 2015 as it builds out its networks of charging stations, CEO Elon Musk told a German paper … For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only EV posts: EVLN: San Diego, CA's 6000+ Plugins and 500 Public EVSE = an EV-leader EVLN: Head2head compliance-car comparison, 2014 Honda Fit & Focus EVs EVLN: UK Leaf production @1M & growing consumer confidence EVLN: Leaf EV long-term review EVLN: Musk on 'electric car-hating' BBC-TopGear's Clarkson + EVLN: plugincars.com 's pros and cons {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-VW-CEO-Sez-Germany-s-1M-EV-Goal-Doable-tp4666005.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
