A driver from China has managed to successfully sue Tesla for fraud. The person filed a lawsuit against the company over a purchase he made for a second hand Model S electric car.
According to Aljazeera, a Beijing court has found the American EV maker of misrepresenting the condition of the car purchased by Han Chao on the carmaker’s official used car platform. Han Chao had bought the vehicle for 379,700 Yuan (roughly 58,700 US Dollars). However, he found that the car had undergone various major repairs due to an earlier accident. This, in turn, led to the court dismissing Tesla’s defense that signs of welding indicated no “structural change.”
Notably, this marks another negative publicity that Tesla has received in the Chinese market. Earlier, it had faced issues such as security concerns over the cameras its cars housed and the 300,000 units being recalled due the issue of users activating autopilot, among other user complaints and more. Now, the company has been ordered to refund the cost of the car and pay damages of three times the purchase price.
Zhang Xiaoling, a partner at Beijing based Haodong Law Firm “The verdict can be regarded as a milestone in consumer rights protections against big companies. The case may boost the confidence of consumers facing a similar situation and probably will bring more followers.” On the other hand the automaker’s legal team shared that “We look forward to and believe that the court will finally adjudicate in accordance with the law,” but refused to comment any further on the matter.
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