If you think about electric cars, at the moment the name Tesla will likely come to the forefront. There are good reasons why you may think about Tesla – the stock has been on a great run, the cars, from the people who drive them are a joy to drive. Is Tesla a software company or a manufacturing company? How you answer the question determines your outlook on the company. However every company has competition. At the moment the competition is behind Tesla but in the automotive world, expect the competition to have very similar vehicles very quickly. Recently saw an article that 54% of the new cars being sold in Norway are electric and most are not Tesla.

In an article by Jack Ewing of the New York Times News Service, Mr. Ewing examined what the German manufacturers are doing. The German manufacturers include: Porsche, Audi, BMW, Daimler and VW.

Porsche started out with they have a reputation of high performance vehicles – the electric vehicle has to be a real Porsche, said Stefan Weckbach, the Porsche executive in charge of the Taycan. Reviewers of the Taycan noted the car can accelerate like a Porsche but it cannot go as far as the Tesla Model S and last Tesla’s self driving software.

Audi, Porsche and VW are all corporately related will be selling the e-tron GT, the emphasis is on driving comfort rather than setting speed records. In 2022, Audi plans to sell the Q4 electric SUV. Because of the electric motor, auto designers make the interiors of the electric car roomier than gasoline cars.

VW hopes to do what it does best, drive down the cost for each vehicle with massive production volumes and beat Tesla on price.

In 2021, Mercedes a division of Daimler with introduce the EQS, to complement its S class series. In 2022 it will introduce a SUV, because the most popular vehicle sold in the US is a SUV.

BMW will not be producing a fully electric vehicle until 2025, instead offering electrified versions of its conventional models.

Renault which is produced in France and is aligned with Nissan has been producing the Zoe which is the best selling battery powered car in Europe during 2020.

Tesla will be producing vehicles in Europe in 2021 at a plant in Gruenheide, east of Berlin.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, when you invest in a manufacturing company you constantly need to look to the future because of the lag time it takes to invest millions of dollars to produce what you hope the public will buy. If the company gets it right, then they have a good year. If not there is next year. In all fields there is competition, although some companies names come up every year as a dividend buyer you expect them to maintain their market share, if it falls seek alternatives.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.