London, UK (CNN) – The world’s largest carmaker appears to be gaining ground on Tesla, as Volkswagen sold 231,600 battery-powered electric cars in 2020, according to figures released by the company on Wednesday.
While this is still less than half of Tesla’s sales, it represents an increase of 214% from the previous year and shows that Germany’s huge car industry is starting to challenge the leader in electric cars.
“We are on the right track to achieve our goal of becoming the market leader in battery electric vehicles,” said Ralph Brandstatter, CEO of Volkswagen Motors, in a statement on Tuesday.
Volkswagen’s most popular battery-powered vehicle was the new ID.3, which sold 56,500 units. While sales of the compact e-Golf and e-up! The smaller ones are 41,300 and 22,200 respectively.
Audi, the group’s luxury brand, sold 47,300 SUVs and a sportpack, while customers bought 20,000 electric Porsche Taycan cars.
Sales of plug-in hybrids and conventional fuels also increased, with Volkswagen selling 190,500 plug-in hybrids last year, an increase of 175% over 2019.
Even so, Tesla remains a formidable challenge, as the company, led by Elon Musk, has achieved its goal of building 500,000 cars in 2020, it reported earlier this month.
Production and delivery are more than a third higher than 2019 levels, an impressive gain, especially considering that the company’s factory in Fremont, California, shut down for nearly two months due to the pandemic. Tesla is currently building a plant in Germany after opening another in China in 2019.
Investors rewarded Tesla by making it one of the most valuable companies in the world, with a market value of $ 805 billion, more than 8 times the value of Volkswagen, even though the German company makes about 19 times as many cars.
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