VW says it will 'leapfrog ... anything Tesla can do'

Brand chief Herbert Diess is confident that VW will become the dominant market leader \"in this new world\" of electric vehicles.

Tesla currently enjoys a headstart as the automotive industry pivots to electric vehicles, but Volkswagen promises to become the dominant market leader in the next eight years.

On paper, Tesla aims to be the first to produce a million EVs annually as early as 2020 -- five years ahead of VW's 2025 target. The German automaker nonetheless claims it is positioned to 'leapfrog' its American rival in the next ten years.

"Anything Tesla can do, we can surpass," brand chief Herbert Diess said at the company's headquarters, according to a Financial Times report.

"Tesla comes from a high-priced segment, however they are moving down," Diess added. "It's our ambition, with our new architecture, to stop them there, to rein them in."

Tesla's mass-market ambitions center around the Model 3, claimed to be on track to arrive in a few months, and the Model Y that is slated for 2020. The former has already attracted hundreds of thousands of deposits, though Tesla must still prove that it can quickly ramp up production volume to clear the backlog.

There is no question that Volkswagen is capable of producing its family of MQB-based EVs in large volumes. The company does not have the same head start as Tesla, however, and market reception to its 'ID' sub-brand will remain hazy until the first model arrives on the market.