When a Tesla becomes a Volkswagen

For the first time, the Tesla Model 3 has ascended the throne of the best-selling car in Europe, displacing the Golf, which has long set the tone in this category. Until not so long ago, hardly anyone could have imagined that an electrically powered and, moreover, American car could make it to the top of the list in such an important category. For years the media have been discussing the change in technology, Germanized Anglicisms describe the unthinkable and now we have arrived at the present with the term ''disruption ''.

The combustion car, the popular icon VW Golf, which has dominated sales for decades, will be replaced by the electric icon Tesla Model 3 at least in the last quarter. However, one would make it too easy for oneself to assume that this is only due to the general trend towards subsidized e-cars. Other effects also come into play, such as the shortage of vendor parts and, first and foremost, the shortage of electronic hardware. But this immediately raises the question of why: Does VW have worse stockpiling than Tesla or is there a

fundamental defect in the combustion engine, which in many areas is more complex than the drive via an electric motor? Without being able to empirically prove this in detail, common sense would say: “A little of everything” is probably the reason. In a relatively short time, VW no longer only had to procure the combustion engines with the inventory organization, but now also have to manage the electric drive of the ID3, which is running in the Golf class.

A more complex shopping scenario is not per se more resilient and forgiving than a simpler one. One could also come to the conclusion that VW fishes in its own waters with the ID3 and that purchases of an iD3 will certainly substitute a certain percentage of purchases of a Golf. But these are numbers games. What remains is that a new drive technology is massively competing with a tried and tested old one. And this game is called innovation, which in this case is also strongly driven by external influences such as climate change. The term “Tesla Fighter” is a reflection of this. This term refers to vehicles that the established industry sets as product-side spearheads against the rookie Tesla. One such is, for example, the Porsche Taycan, whose mission to

secure the open Porsche flank in the electric drive can be considered a success, even though the product itself is not yet at Tesla level in every respect. And in the next few weeks, the BMW i4 will hit the market as another representative of the Tesla Fighter class. We can be curious whether this "attack" succeeds and whether the i4 does not cut off as sheep in wolf's clothing. In terms of radiator grille surface, the BMW has already won, pushing huge body openings with a towering front in front of it, while the Teslas crouch at the front of the car rather flat and aerodynamically optimized and classically streamlined, like the BMWs used to appear. And then you ask yourself: Should the BMW, with its high e-drive efficiency, emit much less heat than an X5, why would you need the large openings? Or is it the new normal that I'm supposed to be quite a rascal with my BMW i4, which breaths in other road users

with its large holes in the apron, but in reality I'm a very dear and sustainable contemporary?

And what's the moral of the story? The technological change is a beautiful, colorful, varied time, but it knows winners and losers, it is sometimes charming, sometimes brutal and merciless. In general, I think that our highly developed car industry does not have to produce "killers" or "fighters", but, as it has done so often, simply excellent, competitive products.

Ulrich W. Schiefer (Image from BMW Netherlands)