Volkswagen, the world’s No.2 carmaker, is worth 200 billion euros ($238 billion), Chief Executive Herbert Diess, confirming a previously stated target on the back of a 38% share price increase so far in 2021.
“Analysts, too, arrive at the conclusion that the sum of the parts has that value,” Diess told Reuters following the group’s annual news conference.
Shares in Volkswagen, which owns the Audi and Porsche brands, rose as much as 8.4% on Tuesday to their highest level since July 6, 2015, giving the carmaker a current market valuation of more than 120 billion euros.
Tesla, which only sells a fraction of the cars compared to its German rival, has a current market value of about $680 billion.
“We have shown that we are not to be underestimated with regard to the new areas of business. We are a serious player and have the resources to be a part of the new game.”
After years as the undisputed king of the electric car, Tesla (TSLA) could be matched sale for sale by Volkswagen as early as 2022, according to analysts at UBS, who predict that Europe’s biggest carmaker will go on to sell 300,000 more battery electric vehicles than Tesla in 2025.
Ending Tesla’s reign would be a huge milestone in Volkswagen’s transformation into an electric vehicle powerhouse. Badly burned by its diesel emissions scandal in 2015, Europe’s largest carmaker is investing €35 billion ($42 billion) in electric vehicles, staking its future on new technology and a dramatic shift away from fossil fuels.
“Tesla is not only about electric vehicles. Tesla is also very strong in software. They really run the car as a device. They are making good progress on the autonomous thing. But yes … we are going to challenge Tesla,” Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess told CNN’s Julia Chatterley on Tuesday.
