BMW Pans Tesla in LA

BMW has touted its electric car capability while having a dig at Tesla at the 2018 Los Angeles auto show.

An executive for the German maker raised eyebrows on the opening day of Tesla’s home show with a pointed reference to the EV manufacturer’s boss Elon Musk, who is famous for making bold statements on social media.

“Unlike some in the industry, we do not just Twitter, we deliver on our promises,” said BMW executive, Klaus Frolich.

However, Frolich was coy when asked to clarify whether his comment was a direct dig at Tesla. 

“We never comment on the competition. It’s up to you to bring things together,” he said.

Having beaten the likes of BMW to market with a premium electric sedan in the Tesla Model S, the electric car company has struggled to ramp up production to meet customer demand.

But BMW says it will deliver on all of its promises and its experience in delivering products for decades puts the company in a commanding position.

“We will have 12 fully electric cars. They will drive like BMWs and they will ramp up in volume in the market,” said Frolich.

“We think we are in a very good position in the market. 

“Customers know what they will get.”

The remarks are in contrast to recent comments made by Musk, who describes production of its new Model3 electric car as being in “production hell” and that the brand “dropped the ball” when building its first cars.

So far orders for the Model3 have been overwhelming and Tesla is struggling to produce the electric car in large numbers.

But the brand continues to steal headlines after it recent announcement in the lead-up to the LA motor show of a semi truck and second-generation Tesla Roadster reportedly capable of reaching 100km/h in just 1.9 seconds.

Musk cheekily hinted on Twitter that the Roadster's performance might be out of this world.

“Not saying the next gen Roadster special upgrade package *will* definitely enable it to fly short hops, but maybe …

“Certainly possible. Just a question of safety. Rocket tech applied to a car opens up revolutionary possibilities,” he said.

Frolich says BMW invested heavily in research and development surrounding processes required for mass-produced electric cars, targeting annual production of more than 600,000 electrified vehicles.

“We want to stretch to 25 per cent of the BMW volume…you can be sure, now, we have the core structures that we can do this,” Frolich says.

“Others, if they build 600,000 electrified vehicles, let’s look at how their core structures will be. 

“Now we can scale, but we have worked on that for 15 years.

“I think of the guys, they scaled too early, they did not do their homework in the last 15 years. 

“That’s a risk.”

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