Volkswagen in Denial Over the Global Race for Electric Vehicles!

Volkswagen crosses the threshold of two million electric cars delivered, but the industrial pace of the German giant raises questions.

Volkswagen announces that it has surpassed two million 100% electric vehicles delivered. This is an important figure for a historic manufacturer that has engaged in its transformation towards electrification for over a decade.

The two millionth model, an ID.3 produced in Zwickau and handed over to a customer at the Glass Manufacturing site in Dresden, embodies this concrete transition. Behind the symbol are massive investments, adapted factories, and a range now structured around electric platforms… but the global market is no longer measured solely by the internal milestones of manufacturers.

BYD and Tesla set a different pace

In 2025, BYD sold about 2.26 million 100% electric cars. In just one year, the Chinese group surpassed the total volume accumulated by Volkswagen since the launch of its electric strategy.

What Volkswagen built over several years now corresponds to one year of production for the current global leader in the electric segment. And what to say of Tesla, which delivered about 1.65 million vehicles in 2025 with only 5 models in the catalog. Among these 5 models, two end-of-life vehicles, the Model S and X, and a pickup with confidential sales! This brings Tesla’s total to over 6 million cars produced since the industrial start of the group just over a decade ago. The American company, born with electric vehicles, already shows a volume depth well above the milestone now reached by the German giant.

A revealing industrial gap

The comparison is quite brutal! Volkswagen’s two million electric vehicles now represent a standard annual volume at the new market leaders. Emerging players have built their growth around a model designed natively for electric, with an extremely rapid capacity ramp-up. Legacy manufacturers, on the other hand, must transform existing infrastructures while simultaneously managing thermal engines and electric platforms.

And the arrival of new Asian tech players like Xiaomi will not improve the situation for our European champions. Since the launch of its first electric sedan, the SU7, in 2024, the Chinese tech group has quickly crossed industrial stages. In less than two years, the combined production of its two electric models, the sedan SU7 and the SUV YU7, has exceeded 500,000 vehicles produced!

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The milestone reached by Volkswagen is undoubtedly a strong symbol of industrial transformation. But in an industry where the annual volumes of the new giants now exceed the historical totals of some established groups, the question is no longer just about progress; it is about pace. In the global race for electric vehicles, the speed of execution now matters more than the symbol.

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