Volkswagen Declares War On Tesla, Thinks It Can Do EVs Better

By and large, Elon Musk’s technology company Tesla has been on a steady climb over the last few years, recently becoming the most valuable car maker in the US. Its electric vehicles are considered the best in the business and with the world slowly transitioning to clean energy, the American giant is projected to get exponentially bigger. With that said, Tesla’s reputation and rapid growth aren't fazing Volkswagen, which recently declared that it can make better electric cars than Musk’s company.

In a recent Financial Times report, VW brand chief Herbert Diess had a few choice words with regards to Tesla’s huge lead in the electric car market. During a press conference last Sunday, Diess that it can do better than Tesla when it comes to designing and manufacturing electric cars.

“[Tesla] is a competitor we take seriously,” Diess said during the event. “Tesla comes from a high-priced segment, however, they are moving [to less expensive cars]. It’s our ambition, with our new architecture, to stop them there, to rein them in.”

Of course, this is a rather bold claim by a company that was caught only two years ago for cheating on carbon emissions tests with its diesel vehicles. Then again, perhaps this is VW making a real effort to change its image and actually start serving the environment rather than harm it.

Whatever the case may be, VW has set a goal of selling over one million electric vehicles by 2025, which is actually quite ambitious. One of the ways that Diess said the company is going to achieve this is by offering electric vehicles at around the same price as diesel units, Fortune reports.

The process will supposedly involve cutting costs and increasing productivity, which will give VW “leapfrogging cost advantages” over Tesla. Whether or not it can actually derail the bullet train of a company that Musk has created remains to be seen.