A driver in China had sued Tesla Inc. and has been awarded a huge amount in damages by a court which ruled in his favor. The case pertained to fraud over the purchase of a Model S, second-hand car. A Beijing court found misrepresentation on part of the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer.
According to a copy posted on his Weibo account Han Chao, the driver said that he had bought the car for 379,700 yuan which is roughly equivalent to $58,700. The car had been majorly repaired due to an earlier accident. The court dismissed the EV manufacturer’s defense argument that signs of welding were not “structural change.”
The ruling posted on the driver’s Weibo page also ordered Tesla to pay back the cost of the car as well as damages amounting to three times the price at which the car was purchased. The total payout was over 1.5 million yuan.
The case took 755 days, according to a post by Han on Weibo. He also encouraged his 120,000 followers on the path of truth by posting “Right is right. Wrong is wrong.” He said the principal should never be intimidated by unfairness or strong rivalry, even it looked strong and flamboyant. The Tesla CEO, Elon Musk is known for his flamboyant style.
Tesla’s legal team said that they believed that the court would finally “adjudicate in accordance with the law.” It has sued Han for damaging courtesy cars and for slander as he had called the EV manufacturer a “hooligan company.” It has also said that it will appeal the ruling.
Han is suing Tesla as well for defamation. He said that the automaker had indicated that he was the organizer of a Shanghai auto show protest which went viral when a woman climbed atop a car to protest about an alleged break failure in her Tesla car. However, Han said that although he had met the woman, he had no role in the protest.
Initially, Tesla began a dream run in China when it became the only foreign company to wholly own its enterprise in the country. It wanted to capture the huge market available but has faced a fair share of problems and it looks like the Han problem is also here to stay.
(With inputs from agencies)
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