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Shanghai (AP) - After an incident at the Shanghai auto show, the US car maker Tesla came under pressure in China.
The company finally apologized for "not having solved a customer's problem quickly enough".
State media spoke on Wednesday of an initially “presumptuous attitude” by the car manufacturer, who had shown themselves to be “uncompromising” in their initial reaction.
The controversy began with a protest by the woman who climbed into a "Model 3" car at the Tesla stand at the auto show on Monday and loudly complained about brake failure.
She was taken away by security guards.
The videos went viral.
So far, Tesla has not known any problems with the brakes, but in response, customers complained about other defects in their cars.
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The US manufacturer first rejected the woman's allegation.
She is already known for her protests.
But then the state agency Xinhua commented that the quality of Tesla had to meet expectations in order to win the trust of consumers.
The Communist Party's powerful Legal Commission also got involved, demanding respect for Chinese consumers and accusing Tesla of not investigating the cause of the problem.
Under such pressure, the company apologized on Tuesday evening and promised to “actively listen to the opinions, suggestions and criticism of our customers, Internet users and friends in the media”.
Tesla wants to “look for solutions with an upright posture”.
The company, which built a factory in Shanghai, is seeing rapid sales in China.
In 2020 Tesla sold 140,000 "Model 3" - around an eighth of all e-cars sold in China.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210421-99-291671 / 2
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