Volkswagen is in second place. Four Chinese manufacturers in the top ten for the first time.
According to a study by the Center of Automotive Management (CAM), the US electric car manufacturer Tesla remains the world's most innovative manufacturer of e-cars – and is increasing its distance from the competition.
Tesla was able to expand its lead “thanks to strong innovations in the area of range and charging capacity”, announced the CAM in Bergisch Gladbach on Thursday. Volkswagen and the Chinese manufacturer BYD follow in behind.
When it comes to electromobility, manufacturers' innovative strength plays a “central role” in future economic success, explained CAM Director Stefan Bratzel. For the ranking, the institute evaluated 32 automobile manufacturers on the basis of 291 innovations in the field of electromobility and then calculated the innovative strength using an index value.
Plus 45 index points
Tesla increased by 45 to 159 index points compared to the previous year. Volkswagen is still in second place with an increase of 37 points with 123 counters – “mainly due to the high segment ranges and charging capacities of the VW ID3 as well as other innovations from Porsche (Taycan) and Audi (e-tron)”, explained the CAM.
BYD from China made “a big leap” with plus 23 points and clearly overtook Hyundai. The South Korean carmaker was therefore only able to gain a “moderate” plus nine points in 2020 after high growth in the previous year and is now in fourth place.
According to Bratzel, four Chinese automobile manufacturers, Geely, BAIC and SAIC, are among the top ten for the first time. Geely was able to “catapult himself up” from 15th to seventh – mainly thanks to innovations from Volvo and Polestar. According to CAM, however, there is some catching up to do with electrical innovations at many established automobile manufacturers – including “the German premium manufacturers Daimler and BMW, which only come in eleventh and 13th, respectively.”
The established manufacturers would have to “arm themselves, since in the next few years considerable innovation dynamics can be expected not only from Tesla, but also from newcomers in electromobility such as Lucid Motors or the Chinese manufacturers Nio and Xpeng,” explained Bratzel. “Anyone who comes too late with e-mobility is taking a high risk,” he warned.
