According to Reuters, Elon Musk’s company Tesla is recalling more than 80,000 imported as well as China-made cars. The cars that were produced after 2013, are going to be recollected by Tesla following some seatbelts and software on Friday.
Cars imported from 25 September 2013 to 21 November 2020, have been recalled by the US-based electric car company that was imported to China. It has recalled a total of 67,698 Model S and Model X cars, due to software problems that were affecting the battery management system in the automobiles.
Out of 67,698 Tesla cars, 2,736 of Model 3 manufactured between January and November 2019, were imported. And around 10,127 China-made cars of the same model were manufactured between 14 October 2019 to 26 Sep 2022.
The main motive behind Tesla’s move is to upgrade the software of the returned vehicles as the main reason behind the recall is also due to a software issue. Tesla claimed to modify the software, and check and reinstall the system of the automobiles free of charge.
Tesla recalled a total of 127,785 Model 3 cars in China around April. The company wrote “potential faults in semiconductor components that might lead to collisions”.
Meanwhile, investors are on high alert for any fallout that might occur due to the recollection as the market is full of competition, especially with domestic challengers – Warren Buffett-backed BYD to upstarts like Nio and Xpeng.
“Recalls are always costly and often get amplified in a way that can be reputationally damaging — especially true now as the market has become hyper-competitive and Tesla’s backlog has been shrinking,” Bill Russo, CEO at Shanghai-based Automobility, told CNBC.
“This recall mostly impacts imported models (S and X), so it can be managed if they get out in front of it.”
China is one of Tesla’s most significant markets. The company has a primary production plant in Shanghai and has been trading a record number of China-made automobiles in the past months.
But Tesla also faces increasing rivals in China as companies like Xpeng, Nio, and Li Auto ramp up fresh car releases for 2023 in a proposal to challenge the U.S. electric automaker’s reign.
However, it is not the first time that Tesla has had to recollect cars in China. In May, the U.S. firm recollected more than 100,000 cars due to an overheating problem.