[Kon5ole]

VW's former boss mentioned in an interview that it took VW 3 times as long to make a car than it does for Tesla. So I think that while there may be some dumping as well, the main explanation is efficiency.

A company that builds a robotic factory from scratch and that only makes electric cars will be able to make cheaper cars than one who already has a huge headcount of combustion car workers. Auto workers are unionised and often working in factories bound by political agreements. You can't just close the combustion engine plant or reeducate everyone to make electric engines, it's years of negotiations.

If you start from scratch you don't have that problem, and you don't need to include that cost into the price of your cars.

That said, it makes perfect sense for a civilised society to protect their workers while they are reeducated and reassigned to new work by blocking foreign competition. But only for a while, while going all-in on the required changes.

Reality can't be ignored forever.

[bluGill]

VW has also learned a lot about making cars over the years. Fit and finish is reportedly better on VW vs Tesla. (this is very hard to measure though - once someone buys something as expensive as a car they are not emotionally willing to admit they made a mistake and so they will tend to ignore problems with their own while piling on perceived problems with the other)

[tonyedgecombe]

VW has become fat and lazy. It looks like they are just getting started on fixing that but they have a long way to go.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/volksw...