The antitrust authority in South Korea announced on Tuesday that it would impose a fine of 2.85 billion won ($2.2 million) on Tesla. A fine is imposed for not providing adequate information to the customer. The company didn’t inform that the driving range of its electric vehicles could be reduced by 50% in cold weather.
According to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), the company overstated and made deceptive statements about the range and charge time of its electric vehicles online. According to the statement, the American carmaker also made false statements regarding how much money fuel savings will save compared to gasoline-Â vehicles.
The driving range of Tesla’s electric cars decreases in cold weather by up to 50.5 percent, contrary to what was claimed on the local Korean-language website, claims the KFTC.
Additionally, according to the regulator, Tesla neglected to tell customers that “charging performance varies greatly depending on the type of supercharger, external temperature, and the state of the battery.”
Tesla has shipped 1.31 million electric cars in 2022
Tesla also didn’t informed the buyers that “charging performance varies greatly depending on the type of supercharger, external temperature and the state of charge of the battery,” the regulator mentioned in a comment.
Tesla could not be reached right away for comment. Tesla announced on Monday that it had shipped 1.31 million electric cars in 2022, a record for the Elon Musk-led automaker and a 40% increase from the previous year, but still short of both Wall Street and its estimates.
The company’s stock fell 65 percent in 2022 after surging on Wall Street in 2020 and 2021. According to an internal posting of reporting lines examined by Reuters, China Chief Tom Zhu has been promoted to assume direct supervision of the electric carmaker’s American assembly plants as well as its North American and European sales operations.
According to the Tesla advertisement, Zhu still held the position of vice president for Greater China and continued to be the company’s top sales officer for the rest of Asia as of Tuesday.
With direct control over deliveries in all of Tesla’s primary markets and the operations of its key production hubs, Zhu is now the company’s most visible executive after CEO Elon Musk.
The separation of Tesla’s car design and development, both of which Musk has been deeply involved in, would be maintained by Zhu’s reporting lines, while an apparent deputy to Musk would be created for the more pressing issues of managing global sales and output.
A Reuters inquiry for comment received no immediate response from Tesla.
