American electric vehicle major Tesla is about to recall around 30,000 cars in China over a defective suspension issue. This recall campaign includes Tesla Model S and Tesla Model S models that were imported to China between September 2013 and January 2018.
According to China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR/DPAC), the defects in the suspension found in both Tesla Model S and Tesla Model X could increase the risk of accidents.
The recall would surely dent the image of the automaker to some extent. Following the announcement of the recall, the fast-growing electric carmaker’s shares on Nasdaq fell sharply, reports news agency AFP.
Meanwhile, the EV maker has come out all guns blazing and denied there are any suspension defects in the Model S and Model X EVs imported to China. The US-based company has blamed the Chinese government for imposing an unnecessary recall for these models.
However, the automaker has decided to not challenge the recall in China. As the company says, the alleged suspension faults could be because of driver abuse. As it states, if the driver puts an abuse load, then the parts may be damaged. This could lead to immediate failure or delayed failure from compounding effects of the initial abuse and subsequent load input.
As Tesla further stated, the possibility of such defects manifesting is 0.05% outside of China and 0.1% in China.
China is the world’s biggest auto market. The country is the main growth driver for several global auto manufacturers. With the Chinese government’s focus on environment-friendly green mobility, Tesla aims to grab a large chunk of the country’s EV market.
The EV maker has already set up a Gigafactory in Shanghai, the EV maker’s first outside the United States. The Shanghai plant of the automaker manufactures mass-market Tesla Model 3, which is expected to come to the Indian market in the next financial year (FY22). The automaker is about to begin exporting the made-in-China Model 3 compact electric sedans to the European market, starting in October 2020.
Meanwhile, Tesla has said on Wednesday that its profit in the last quarter (July-September) had more than doubled. The automaker also aims to deliver 5 lakh cars this year.
Also Read: Covid pandemic to delay electric vehicle penetration in India
