GM, VW, and Hyundai Are More Realistic Competitors To Tesla Than Toyota
The people who doubt Toyota have some points because the competition with Tesla in 2021 comes down to production. Who has more experience and will produce more electric cars, and who will sell more electric cars in 2021 than Tesla.
There are lots of pros and cons between Toyota and Tesla, but as Torque News EV contributor Dean McManis writes, we can compare how future Toyota electric vehicles compare to Teslas and other EV models once they are actually built and available to buy.
"It is good to hear that Toyota has EV plans, but for now it doesn't mean too much. I think that GM, VW, and Hyundai will be more realistic competitors than Toyota in the near future," writes McManis.
He thinks VW will have the ID.4 out in 2021 (like Ford with its Mach-E). GM will have its Bolt EUV. Nissan will have their Ariya. And Hyundai will have its new Ioniq models out.
All of them have announcements for real future models due out this year.
"Toyota's announcement sounds to me like GM's 2017 statement of having 23 electric vehicles out before 2025. And most of us listening thought that we would see 2-4 new GM EVs out for sale in 2018. However, now 3 years later, GM is still selling just the Bolt, and we will finally see some new EV models in late 2021," McManis writes.
In other words, no competitor is catching up with Tesla until they have electric vehicles on the road with a large demand.
As of now Tesla electric vehicles are arguably the best in class. Toyota may be able to close the gap and be the number two electric vehicle producer in 3-5 years. While Toyota has other charging options with third-party chargers, perhaps it may be smart if Toyota would license the Supercharging option from Tesla, giving its new EV buyers an immediately available large reservoir of fast-charging stations.
Also, if Toyota starts with a minivan it could immediately apply to millions of van buyers in an area where Tesla hasn't entered yet. Am I missing anything?
Armen Hareyan is the founder and the Editor in Chief of Torque News. He founded TorqueNews.com in 2010, which since then has been publishing expert news and analysis about the automotive industry. He can be reached at Torque News Twitter, Facebok, Linkedin and Youtube.
Comments