Tesla says sorry to Chinese buyers, back-pedalling on its ‘no compromise’ attitude towards ‘unreasonable’ customer grievances as pressure mounts on social media and state press

‘We are deeply sorry for the delay in resolving the owner’s issue,’ Tesla said late April 20 on its Weibo account. China’s social media and state press weighed in on the latest controversy surrounding the bellwether producer in China’s electric vehicles market. — SCMP

Tesla said sorry and back-pedalled on its “no compromise” attitude towards what it called “unreasonable” customer grievance, as it succumbed to pressure on social media by some of its most important buyers and local authorities in the world’s largest market for electric vehicles.

The apology, issued late on April 20, came a day after a protest at the Shanghai Auto Show, where a woman wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “brake malfunction” and a Tesla logo jumped on top of the carmaker’s vehicle. She was eventually dragged away by security guards.