#Tesla, with 422,875 customer deliveries, benefitting from sharp Q1 price cuts and an improved production ramp-up from its new facilities, such as the European Brandenburg site in Germany, which reached a 5,000 weekly production rate at the end of March, according to the company, saw its volumes do enough to pass Audi’s 415,700 first quarter customer deliveries according to OEM supplied data.
However, with German premium OEM pricing remaining stable and unlikely to make short-term similar cuts thanks to thick order books, as well as protecting residual values and brand equity, Tesla appears to be moving towards more volume brand territory, with volume brands such as Renault Group, Stellantis brands and Volkswagen Group volume brands more likely to come under pressure as Tesla crashes through the segments from “premium” to “volume” like a car crashing through a multi-story parking lot, weighed down by discounts.
More in-depth reporting in the full study published each month. The study now also features an in-depth look at the Chinese OEMs as their European expansion slowly begins. Are Chinese OEMs really a threat to the established European OEMs and what does the outlook look like?
