As a CEO of a large global automaker, you have a huge problem of existential dimensions. If you don’t solve it, it’s not just your job that’s lost, but you will be remembered as the person who is responsible for a century-long proud legacy ending.
Volkswagen is launching into what could be a huge electric decade that reinvents and rejuvenates the large global automotive group. Yes, the Volkswagen ID.3 — which is sort of supposed to be the VW Beetle or Golf of this century — has some delays. Reinvention can be tough.
Led by the Tesla Model 3, December had an amazing 22,983 plug-in registrations, a three-fold increase compared to the same month last year, finally beating one of the oldest records in modern EV history, the 15,879 units sold in the Netherlands in December 2016.
I get it — change is hard. It’s difficult, awkward, and perhaps even annoying or frustrating to see something we love get changed. The good news about the pushback from Ford/Mustang fans regarding the Ford Mustang Mach-E: we’ve seen this before with Porsche and BMW, and Porsche and BMW not only survived by thrived.
Euro NCAP has published safety tests granting 5-star ratings to both the Tesla Model X and Porsche Taycan. The Model X had higher scores: 94% for Safety Assist and 98% for adult occupant protection. Its safety assist score was the same as the Model 3’s.
The headline isn’t exactly true, but if you are reading the various daily analyses of the stock this week, that’s sure what it seems analysts are saying. Analysis is coming so quickly and voluminously as the stock continues to increase — over 10% as I write this — that even though I’ve been doing research each night, by the time I’m halfway ready to publish an article, the news has changed and the stock is rising even more.
Something clicked in the German plug-in vehicle market after the summer holidays. After two consecutive record months, November saw 10,985 units registered, only the second five-digit performance in Germany’s history, after the record 11,926 units of October. It seems Europe’s e-locomotive has finally been set in motion, which is a promising sign for 2020.
For those who own Tesla stock*, the drama of the share price seems to be extra drama beyond the drama associated with the company’s growth. Many would say the share price volatility is unwelcome drama. Others let it go, like water down a goose’s back.
The French plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) market had 5,540 registrations in November, with fully electric vehicles (BEVs) dropping 10% year over year (YoY), to 3,201 units. However, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) took the fast lane and were up 80%.
Are legacy automakers’ EVs screwed? Sean Mitchell from “All Things EV” asks a question that many EV followers ask often, and then tries to answer it.
