Automaker has taken to court at least a half-dozen of its own customers, says AP report, for complaining about build quality
- Tesla has levelled several lawsuits at owners of its cars in China after they critiqued the build quality
- The automaker has also gone after media outlets over what it alleges amounts to “defamation”
- In the research by the Associated Press, Tesla won almost every one of the legal actions it filed
Additionally, the same AP research is said to have surfaced two Chinese media outlets and a handful of bloggers who were also served papers by the EV manufacturer, again after publishing negative press about the brand. What’s more, of the dozen or so cases in which the AP could find a verdict, all of them were judged in favour of Tesla; the remainder were either settled out of court or under appeal.
Reporters at the AP point out China is a place in which regulators and courts generally answer to the ruling Communist Party, and suggests this is something Tesla has been taking advantage of so that it can muzzle critics and limit its accountability. Given the rhetoric bubbling up south of the border, and that the head of Tesla is a very influential person in the new American administration, this type of news is worth noticing.
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