US-based electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has been forced to recall 30,000 units of its Model S and Model X vehicles which were imported into China due to a faulty suspension unit.
The recall will cause a major dent in the carmaker’s goodwill and its ambitions at one of the biggest car markets in the world.
In a statement made to China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), Tesla stated that it would recall vehicles shipped between an apparently large trade window of 17 September 2013 to 15 January 2018. The automaker cited two distinct issues with the suspension system on its vehicles with some having both issues as a reason for the recall.
The recall affects a significant portion of the vehicles Tesla shipped to China. The firm which began its own manufacturing in the country at the beginning of this year has considerably reduced the number of imports to just a few hundred every month.
Tesla has been heavily banking on its Shanghai factory for its expansion in China with a near-future goal of manufacturing 200,000 vehicles a year at the facility. Available data from state-backed China Automotive Information Net show that the electric vehicle manufacturer has been garnering consistent interest from the buyers in the country with monthly registrations touching 11,000 units in the last several months just to drop to 10,881 in September.
Technical defects are still the Achilles heel for every electric vehicle manufacturer across the globe. Tesla’s every other competitor, from Hyundai Motor Co. to Ford Motor Co. and BMW AG has been hit by reports of EV fires in recent weeks.
