https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Group
https://www.volkswagen-group.com/en/brands-and-brand-groups-...
https://eu-evs.com/marketShare/ALL/Groups/Line/All-time-by-Q...
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/automobiles/toyota-remained...
Toyota had record sales in 2025:
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota...
Toyota's strategy has worked.
This is pretty nonsensical. The VW _brand_ overtook Tesla in EV sales. However, VW AG (ie the VOWG.DE referenced above), has been outselling Tesla since about 2020. Audi and Seat and so forth are not independent companies in any meaningful way and their cars are for practical purposes the same as those sold under the VW brand.
Tesla forced the entire industry to accelerate to EV. Toyota could have been that pioneer and mover.
Earlier this year Tesla adjusted their mission to push for “a world of amazing abundance” based on renewable energy, autonomous driving, robotics, and AI.
EVs were inevitable, and the timing was largely dictated by battery pricing.
Tesla made long-distance driving in EVs possible. Tesla made EV sexy, desirable. It catalyzed the Chinese EV industry. Neither Nissan nor VW remotely accomplished those things.
Like someone else said, people think in terms of a pre-Tesla and post-Tesla world. I don't know that there's a strong case against that framing.
Even today Ford’s CEO talks about Chinese cars when discussing what they’re worried about, not Tesla.
And then there’s also the battery cost revolution which is again being driven by Chinese companies, whereas Tesla’s in house design has largely failed.
China supplied the batteries, sure.
But there's definitely a pre-Tesla and post-Tesla world regarding the vehicles themselves. Tesla changed the image of EVs available to the general public by making performant and low maintenance vehicles that looked futuristic and were capable of things basically only supercars could, for a fraction of the price. And they built the DC charging infrastructure all over the world to support long-range trips, which was non-existent before Tesla. EVs before Teslas were basically niche experiments.
Tesla’s entry into the Chinese market via the Shanghai Gigafactory (2019) acted as a "catfish," forcing local Chinese "new forces" like NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto to lower prices and accelerate technological innovation.
