Musk: Tesla 'Misled' About Consumer Interest In China

Speculation often leads to more of the same, unless you act upon those speculations. It's a lesson Elon Musk and Tesla learned the hard way, it seems. In China, Tesla has found itself withering on the vine with a slower-than-expected adoption rate among customers. Previously, Musk said misinformation was to blame for Tesla's slow rollout in China; that Chinese consumers didn't quite grasp what his all-electric vehicles were about. It seems analysts may have taken him for a ride, though.

Chinese speculators lead Tesla and Musk to believe interest was high, according to the man himself. What they failed to relay was that the interest came from resellers, who cancelled their orders once the cars arrived in China. Musk said he has been "misled", and was led to believe interest in China was "extremely high".

"China is the only place on earth where we have excess inventory. We are essentially selling cars that speculators ordered but we were unable to deliver" said Musk.

Tesla isn't tucking tail and running, though. Chia is still a territory they're serious about, with Musk saying "We have a strong long-term commitment to China, and we tend to establish both local production and local engineering in China. It is clear that we need to think of China in a very long-term way. We need to steadily boost the confidence of the Chinese consumers."

It's all part of a reboot for Tesla in China, where the company will reportedly go so far as to install free chargers in the homes of consumers. Existing owners, like Tsingshan Steel board member Sunny Zhang, are unhappy, reporting the vehicle took too long to arrive, and service from Tesla has been hit-and-miss.

"If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have bought it", said Zhang.

Source: Bloomberg, Business Insider