With plans to manufacture and deliver 500,000 vehicles in 2020, something which should be easily attainable given new product lines and Giga Shanghai‘s added production volume (barring any impacts from COVID-19), Tesla will remain the #1 EV automaker in the world for the foreseeable future.
Despite insisting as recently as last month during General Motors (GM) EV Day that they were “all-in” by announcing plans for 13 new EV’s, detailed production plans seen by Reuters show that they will continue to focus on the products that make them the most money – gas powered SUVs and pickup trucks.
GM and Ford plan to produce 5 million of them in 2026, compared to just 320,000 EVs. That means 6 years from now, two of the biggest automakers in the world will still be producing less EVs than Tesla did last year.
In 2019, Tesla delivered 367,500 vehicles around the world, setting a new delivery record and meeting the company’s annual guidance.
With the current outbreak of COVID-19 around the world and the collapse in the price of oil, reaching the low $20 level this week, GM and Ford’s strategy may even gain strength with the prospect of cheap gas for the coming years.
The last several months have seen a definite shift in attitude and sentiment towards EVs from legacy automakers, with many of them announcing plans for EV’s, and several releasing new ones this year. But it appears this is mostly talk, and little action if these plans by GM and Ford are any indication.
