Frankfurt — Volkswagen will start deliveries of its first standalone battery-powered models in 2020, around the time that Tesla wants to hand over 1-million vehicles a year. So why does the German car maker think it can stop the US electric-car pioneer in its tracks? What Volkswagen lacks in first-mover advantage, the Wolfsburg-based company can make up in global scale and manufacturing expertise, says Herbert Diess, who oversees the group’s namesake brand. VW today is the world’s biggest car maker, a long-yearned-for status it grabbed from Toyota Motor last year, and Diess wants to claim another crown by making electric vehicles accessible to mass-market buyers, he said in an interview. "We see Volkswagen as the company that can stop Tesla, because we have abilities Tesla doesn’t have today," Diess said in Frankfurt. Tesla has become the de-facto benchmark for established car producers from Daimler to BMW to VW seeking a larger slice of the electric-auto market. And while founder E...
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