Chinese automotive industry regulators on Monday summoned Tesla, the world’s leading electric car manufacturer, over quality and safety issues as the company ramps up production of its latest model in its Shanghai factory.
China is the second largest Tesla’s market after the US and the electric car company sold 120,000 units the country last year.
A news report by bbc.com indicated that Chinese authorities had recently received complaints about abnormal acceleration and battery fires in Tesla’s electric car, thereby raising serious concerns among the users.
In China, the world’s largest car market, the government has been promoting the adoption of electric vehicles in recent times.
According to the China Passenger Car Association, this policy helped Tesla to sell 15,484 locally-made vehicles in January this year.
But the electric automaker is now facing a setback from Chinese consumer watchdogs who have asked Tesla to improve internal management, comply with Chinese law and regulations and to protect consumers’ rights.
As expected, Tesla Shanghai, in a statement “sincerely accepted the guidance of government departments” and that it had “deeply reflected on shortcomings”
Before the latest safety issues, Tesla was already facing quality issues in the US and is to recall large numbers of Model S and Model X cars over failing touch screens. All Teslas have built-in screen displays, which in some models are now failing
Industry analysts believe that the latest regulatory authorities’ summon of the auto maker couldn’t be worse for the company as it faces growing competition from Chinese rivals.
For instance, Chinese electric-vehicle startup, NIO, unveiled a fourth production model last month while Li Auto and XPeng have new models in production.
Tesla, owned by world richest businessman, Elon Musk, won approval for its Shanghai factory in 2018, becoming the first foreign automaker to operate a wholly-owned plant in China.
