A brand new scathing report about Tesla simply got here out in China. It describes how the automaker is turning into trigger-happy, suing its personal prospects and the media whereas auto journalists are being instructed to not be detrimental in regards to the American automaker.
To today, Tesla is the one overseas automaker with a wholly-owned automotive manufacturing unit in China, though Toyota is predicted to observe in a number of years.
Elon Musk made the deal occur with Chinese language Communist Social gathering (CCP) officers again in 2018. Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai grew to become the corporate’s greatest manufacturing hub and its greatest income and revenue.
Tesla would by no means be the place it’s in the present day with out Gigafactory Shanghai and the Chinese language market.
Now, we study that Tesla is keen to go to nice lengths to guard that.
The Related Press (AP) has simply launched a captivating in-depth report about Tesla’s actions in China relating to prospects and the media.
The report facilities round a brand new perspective on the extremely publicized battle between Tesla and one in every of its Chinese language prospects who claimed a brake defect, but it surely additionally goes deeper by highlighting a shit in Tesla’s method to criticism in China.
AP discovered that Tesla sued “no less than six automotive homeowners in China who had sudden car malfunctions, high quality complaints or accidents they claimed had been attributable to mechanical failures.”
Tesla additionally sued “no less than six bloggers and two Chinese language media shops that wrote critically in regards to the firm.”
That is extremely uncommon habits for an automaker.
The report additionally highlights the shut relationship between Tesla and CCP officers, particularly Li Qiang, the previous occasion boss of Shanghai who’s now China’s premier. He was concerned within the Gigafactory Shanghai deal.
It’s not information that Tesla benefited from preferential remedy in China, however the report goes fairly a bit additional.
AP alleges that native media are instructed to not be detrimental on Tesla:
Tesla has profited from the largesse of the Chinese language state, successful unprecedented regulatory advantages, below-market fee loans and enormous tax breaks. With a number of pointed exceptions, Tesla has loved largely ingratiating protection within the Chinese language press, and journalists instructed AP they’ve been instructed to keep away from detrimental protection of the automaker.
A reporter instructed AP:
“We had been instructed by our editor that we must always not write negatively about Tesla as a result of it’s a key firm that was launched and guarded by the Shanghai authorities.”
The report additionally explains how Tesla wins about 90% of the court docket circumstances filed towards the automaker by prospects who declare a defect.
Many shoppers complained of Tesla’s lack of communication, resulting in submitting lawsuits.
In the event that they file lawsuits, they lose, and in the event that they complain publicly, they’re those getting sued by Tesla and compelled to pay the corporate and make a public apology.
Electrek’s Take
That’s fairly a report. It gave a brand new perspective on Ms. Zhang’s case. Her case made it to Western media in 2021-2022, however by no means with the extent of element on this report.
The details are she bought into an accident. She claimed it was on account of a brake failure. Tesla claimed it was on account of a driver mistake.
She felt compelled to protest Tesla over what she noticed as a severe security challenge. She was fairly persistent with it. Tesla sued her and received as a result of she had no option to show {that a} brake defect had prompted the accident. She was pressured to pay Tesla and make a public apology.
However we additionally discovered that Tesla claimed that different entities had been backing her regardless of no proof of that in any way.
I feel there’s room for reflection on Tesla’s half right here. Is that this what it desires to be: an organization that sues its prospects and media over criticism?
Like some prospects stated within the report, Tesla might have averted a lot that by merely having higher communications with prospects.
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