A brand new scathing report about Tesla simply got here out in China. It describes how the automaker is changing into trigger-happy, suing its personal prospects and the media whereas auto journalists are being informed to not be detrimental concerning the American automaker.
To at the present time, Tesla is the one international automaker with a wholly-owned automotive manufacturing facility in China, though Toyota is predicted to comply with in a couple 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 as we speak with out Gigafactory Shanghai and the Chinese language market.
Now, we study that Tesla is prepared to go to nice lengths to guard that.
The Related Press (AP) has simply launched an interesting 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 among its Chinese language prospects who claimed a brake defect, however it additionally goes deeper by highlighting a shift in Tesla’s method to criticism in China.
AP discovered that Tesla sued “at the very least six automotive house owners in China who had sudden car malfunctions, high quality complaints or accidents they claimed have been attributable to mechanical failures.”
Tesla additionally sued “at the very least six bloggers and two Chinese language media shops that wrote critically concerning the firm.”
That is extremely uncommon conduct for an automaker.
The report additionally highlights the shut relationship between Tesla and CCP officers, particularly Li Qiang, the previous get together 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 therapy 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 charge loans and enormous tax breaks. With a couple of pointed exceptions, Tesla has loved largely ingratiating protection within the Chinese language press, and journalists informed AP they’ve been instructed to keep away from detrimental protection of the automaker.
A reporter informed AP:
“We have been informed 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 instances filed in opposition to the automaker by prospects who declare a defect.
Many purchasers 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 information are she acquired into an accident. She claimed it was resulting from a brake failure. Tesla claimed it was resulting from a driver mistake.
She felt compelled to protest Tesla over what she noticed as a critical security problem. She was fairly persistent with it. Tesla sued her and gained as a result of she had no solution to show {that a} brake defect had prompted the accident. She was pressured to pay Tesla and make a public apology.
However we additionally realized that Tesla claimed that different entities have 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 mentioned within the report, Tesla might have averted a lot that by merely having higher communications with prospects.
