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I was responding to a person who said they were direct competitors. I agree that they're competitors in certain respects, insofar as they're both electric vehic

I was responding to a person who said they were direct competitors. I agree that they're competitors in certain respects, insofar as they're both electric vehicles and both have their price spread constrained by the cost of batteries. But they don't directly compete with the same audience. A more reasonable direct competitor to the ID.3 is the Renault Zoe or Peugeot e-208. A more reasonable direct competitor to the Model 3 is the Polestar 2. The Model 3 and ID.3 are a full size class apart and have wildly different driving character. In BMW parlance it's M340i vs 120i. In Mercedes parlance it's C43 vs A200. It is too early to assess the relative build quality of the ID.3, though obviously VW do have strong form here and Tesla have weak form. But from a construction standpoint it's worth noting that the ID.3 is cheaply made, well below the standard of even the VW Golf. Despite the price tag, it's an economy car through and through.

ohmaigad 6y ago
It makes no sense to say that ID.3 is a more reasonable competitor to Zoe or e-208 when the wheelbase difference to those cars is bigger than to Model 3 (+~18cm to Zoe, +~22cm to e-208, -~11cm to Model 3). Unfortunately there seems to be no info about passenger volume because then we could actually compare it to lets say EPA size rating etc. Even going by regular car terms the 208 competitor is VW Polo while ID.3 is bigger than Golf...
- sjwright 6y ago
  You're comparing size only. There are far more aspects of a car's design which determine practicality and market perception. Current market prices aside, the ID.3 is designed to be perceived as a cheaper car by dint of being a hatchback with lots of hard interior plastics. To be clear, I'm not criticising the ID.3, my next car is probably going to look more like the ID.3 than the Model 3. But nonetheless there's a market that's excited by the Tesla's blistering performance and driving dynamics, while there's another market which is more excited by the ID.3's practical and conservative construction.

ohmaigad 6y ago

It makes no sense to say that ID.3 is a more reasonable competitor to Zoe or e-208 when the wheelbase difference to those cars is bigger than to Model 3 (+~18cm to Zoe, +~22cm to e-208, -~11cm to Model 3). Unfortunately there seems to be no info about passenger volume because then we could actually compare it to lets say EPA size rating etc. Even going by regular car terms the 208 competitor is VW Polo while ID.3 is bigger than Golf...

sjwright 6y ago
You're comparing size only. There are far more aspects of a car's design which determine practicality and market perception. Current market prices aside, the ID.3 is designed to be perceived as a cheaper car by dint of being a hatchback with lots of hard interior plastics. To be clear, I'm not criticising the ID.3, my next car is probably going to look more like the ID.3 than the Model 3. But nonetheless there's a market that's excited by the Tesla's blistering performance and driving dynamics, while there's another market which is more excited by the ID.3's practical and conservative construction.