How Elon Musk Responded To Volkswagen's ID.3 Outselling Model 3 In Germany

Germany is emerging as a key battleground for global electric vehicle makers in Europe, given the big EV push of domestic legacy automakers. The market share of plug-in vehicles, as well as sales, reportedly improved notably in Germany in August.

What Happened: August registrations of plug-in vehicles, comprising both battery EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs, came in at 53,000 in Germany, CleanTechnica reported.

Battery EV registrations rose 80% year-over-year compared to 43% growth for PHEVs.

Volkswagen AG VWAGY's ID.3 was the bestseller in Germany in August, with registrations of 3,750 units. Tesla, Inc.'s TSLA Model 3 sedan took the second spot with 2,946 vehicles.

Nevertheless, the Tesla Model 3 had its best off-peak month ever, the report said. The strong showings by the ID.3 hatchback and the Model 3 sedan in one of the slowest months of the year points toward intensifying rivalry between the two for the rest of the year, Clean Technica said.

In response to a tweet of the Clean Technica article, Musk said "September will be interesting."

September will be interesting

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 17, 2021

Related Link: Move Over Tesla? Volkswagen Says It's Out To Become Global Leader In EVs

Why It's Important: A recent report from market research firm Canalys showed that Tesla's global EV market share slipped from 16% in 2020 to 15% in the first half of 2021, while at the same time Volkswagen vastly improved its share from 3.7% in 2019 to 13% in 2020.

Nimble Chinese startups such as Nio, Inc. NIO are also looking to expand into Germany.

Musk's tweet could be construed as suggesting Tesla will make a stronger comeback in Germany. The opening of the long-delayed Giga Berlin could be the catalyst that could reinvigorate the EV maker's sales in the country.

Photo: the Volkswagen ID.3.