Where is Tesla’s EV competition?
Tesla Inc., this was supposed to be the year that traditional automakers finally put up a fight for electric cars. General Motors was committing its biggest brands to a new line of electric models; Ford and Volkswagen were ramping up production of EVs designed for the masses. It was, many predicted, time for the automotive world order to re-assert itself.
Things haven’t turned out that way.
Ford’s vaunted F-150 Lightning has been outsold by the R1T from Rivian, a startup that sold its first vehicle just two years ago. GM’s lineup of new EVs has suffered crippling setbacks in battery manufacturing. In July, Volkswagen Chief Executive Officer Thomas Schaefer succinctly summarized his own company’s EV competitiveness: “The roof is on fire.”
With just three months remaining, 2023 has been less a redemption story for legacy automakers than further evidence of their quagmire.
In the US, Tesla has been expanding production about as fast as all of its competitors combined. The Austin, Texas-based EV maker accounts for 61% of fully electric cars ever sold in the US, making it more dominant in EVs than Apple is in smartphones.
No one can keep up with Tesla’s price cuts
Tesla started the year with a dramatic salvo of price cuts that reset customer expectations across the industry.
Before the changes, the cheapest version of Tesla’s Model Y SUV cost nearly $20,000 more than the average selling price of a new car in the US. By April, that differential had evaporated.
The latest shot fired in Tesla’s price war came on Oct. 1, when it introduced a new Model Y variant that starts at $4,000 less than the average selling price of a new vehicle in the US.
