UBS believes that the ID.3, Volkswagen Group (Volkswagen AG) 's first all-electric car, is as good as Tesla in several key respects, and has raised the Volkswagen Group's target price to 300 euros.
After disassembling a Volkswagen ID.3, the UBS analyst Patrick Hummel team found that its platform is cost-competitive compared with Tesla, and has the best battery energy density and energy efficiency of its kind.
UBS said the car was "by far the most credible electric car product launched by all traditional car companies".
UBS's comments brought good news to Volkswagen ID.3, which had a shaky start. Production failures and disruptions caused by last year's epidemic delayed the release of ID.3 and raised doubts about the ability of traditional car companies to compete with Tesla in electric vehicles.
After UBS's assessment, Volkswagen shares rose 5.6 per cent to 209 euros yesterday, the highest intraday gain since July 2015, and the market capitalization briefly broke through the 100 billion euro mark for the first time. The stock closed at 208.2 euros, meaning it was up 30.6% from UBS's target price.
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess stressed UBS's comments on Twitter on Wednesday, saying: "the market has been waiting for the capacity of our pure electric vehicles to climb and want to see some evidence." So here we are. "
Volkswagen plans to at least double its all-electric vehicle sales share to 6-8 per cent this year, a market share that UBS calculates means delivery of Volkswagen electric vehicles could increase to about 700000 this year. Tesla expects to deliver at least 750000 vehicles in 2021.
"Volkswagen may not be Apple, but Samsung in the electric car industry, with strong profitability and high sales," Hummel said. " He estimates that ID.3 's gross profit margin is about 15%, which is similar to the golf model launched in the golden age of Volkswagen.
