Tesla's youth, the way it rapidly overcame inertia to balloon in size, and Elon Musk's status as the Tony Stark of our time makes it hard to see how the competition will take on the Model 3, which is on the cusp of being released and seen at Supercharging stations across the nation. We forget, however, that other automakers have been in this industry much longer than Tesla has and this isn't the first time they've experienced heat from a newbie.

Volkswagen is one of these automakers, and it plans on answering Tesla's challenge with a lineup of enticing EVs. Coming to us from Germany's Automobil-Produktion is information from this weeks Automobil Forum where Volkswagen chief strategist Thomas Sedran took the stage to talk about one of those, the I.D. Crozz Concept. We saw it drop in Shanghai and on paper it seemed poised take the Model 3 head on in terms of raw performance specs if desirability didn't do it. Sedran, however, confirmed that it wouldn't need any visual or technological desirability to outsell the Model 3 because he gave us one important tidbit of information: its low low price. In total, Sedran hopes to undercut the Model 3 by a vast $7,000-$8,000 price gulf.

That's huge, not just because it assumes battery technology will make leaps and bounds, enabling Volkswagen to carve out some sort of profit despite that low price, but because depending on the approach Volkswagen takes with the I.D., the Model 3 could be in serious trouble. Musk has been trying to downplay how much tech will be in the Model 3, wanting no one to be disappointed when it's not loaded with Model S-like gadgets to play with, but that could play right into Volkswagen's hands if it decides to spruce up the I.D. to the point where it's the no-brainer purchase out of the two electric cars. The most important part about the I.D. is that Volkswagen wants to make it as practical as the bulletproof Golf, which could certainly ring the death knell for Tesla.