Volkswagen

RANK8

The German automaker made headway on its ambitious goal to overtake Tesla in the electric vehicle market by 2025; it doubled its EV production in 2021. Yet Tesla still far outpaces Volkswagen—VW delivered 452,000 EVs globally in 2021 compared with Tesla’s 936,172. Volkswagen has set other lofty goals for its EV business: By 2030, Volkswagen wants half of its total sales to come from EVs, up from 7.5% in 2021. To meet its targets, Volkswagen has set aside $100 billion for EV production expenditures to be used by 2026; committed to constructing six factories for its new battery company, PowerCo, by 2030; and started producing its bestselling electric SUV, the ID.4, in Chattanooga. In the U.S., Volkswagen is also partnering with recycling startup Redwood Materials to operate its EV battery recycling program. VW sold 600,000 fewer cars overall in 2021 than the year prior as a result of the semiconductor shortage, but the carmaker still increased revenue by 16.5%, making good on its strategy to sell more higher-end models.