Tesla Makes Top 10 List at Volkswagens Expense

Tesla Motors has officially become one of the top ten automakers in the world, albeit at Volkswagen’s expense. Tesla earned a place in the list of top 10 auto brands published by BrandZ, a publication of Millward Brown. This achievement was made largely due to the immense demand for Tesla’s all-electric Model 3, which got as many as 373,000 reservations. Volkswagen, on the other hand, suffered mainly as an outcome of the emissions scandal and lost its place in the top 10. Audi, however, with the scandal mainly diluting Volkswagen’s brand value.

The launch of the Model 3 has bosted Tesla’s brand value to approximately USD 4.4 billion, helping it to earn the No: 10 spot on the list of the top 10 auto brands. Audi’s theoretical brand value was estimated at USD 9.5 billion, helping it to earn the seventh position in the list. As usual, Toyota, the Japanese car manufacturer, was the top brand, with a projected brand value of USD 29.5 billion brand. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Ford were the other companies in the top half of the list.

Tesla has ambitious plans to build as many as half-million vehicles by 2018 and has revised its own previous estimates, according to which this target was to be met by 2020.

VW, meanwhile is slowly focusing on repairing its reputations and the cars that have been affected by the diesel emissions scandal. Just last week, German authorities had approved the automaker’s plan to recall over 800,000 diesel-powered cars to repair the “cheat” software issue. The entire cost of the emissions scandal is estimated to be a hefty USD 18 billion, taking into account the recalls, the repair work needed and the damage to the company’s reputation.