THE Audi E-Tron GT is finally here, and will start a friendly rivalry with his distant stable mate, the Porsche Taycan. But I can’t stop thinking that the real winner in all of this is not the Volkswagen Group. That is Tesla.
And it’s less about the Model S suddenly becoming a less formidable competitor – even against automakers whose task is to build incredibly fast cars – and more about the relative accessibility of Tesla models. Model 3.
Because the model is the EV that most American drivers can buy.
we are full load ahead on EVs, but so far EVs making waves are halo EVs like the Taycan, E-Tron and until recently, the Model S. These three cars start at around $ 80,000 and easily reach six digits.
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Meanwhile, the base model 3 starts at around $ 38,000, less than the average transaction price for a new car in 2020, according to KBB. This is still a lot of money, but not so much as to take the BEV out of the running for many buyers. It doesn’t matter if there are similarly priced electric vehicles out there, like the Bolt, Leaf or Mach-E. These do not have the kind of followers or mass market exposure that Teslas has, for better or for worse.
Tesla’s ubiquity is not always good; the automaker and its umm, eccentric leader may be the target of the joke at times, but joke or not, drivers know Tesla. Your Model 3 didn’t do very well promise of the affordable EV, but Tesla is in a position to develop this car so that its quality can keep up with its price.
Tesla could even find itself in a position to deliver a truly accessible EV that would start at $ 25,000, perhaps. Many other companies cannot say that. It is possible that large automakers could bring the fight to Tesla using federal tax credits – we will see how things will change in the near future on that front.
But for now, Tesla is in an enviable position as an electric car maker. Meanwhile, Porsche and Audi are patting themselves on the back for being manufacturers of what can be electric super cars.