The rental company goes away from the Tesla order after quality conflict
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Nextmove car rental company has withdrawn a $ 5 million ($ 5.55 million) order for 85 Tesla electric vehicles following a dispute over how to solve quality problems, the German company said Friday. [19659002] Nextmove said it had ordered 1[ads1]00 electric vehicles in 2018, but raised objections about quality and finish after delivering the first 15 Model 3 cars earlier this year.
The rental company said after a dispute about how to resolve the quality deficiencies, Tesla triggered a reimbursement clause, but Tesla disputes that it canceled the order.
Tesla said Nextmove chose not to take delivery of the cars.
Nextmove said that their Model 3 models had paint defects, fault wiring, dashboard scratches, defective wheels and condensation in the headlights.
Offering the wrong vehicles to rental customers would compromise Nextmove's reputation for quality, the German company said.
Tesla said it was in the process of solving the problems and had delivered replacement cars.
"We believe the customer's decision not to take delivery of the remaining Model 3 orders was not entirely due to quality issues, but was largely influenced by the frustration of an unrelated dispute from earlier in the year," Tesla said in a statement without elaborating further.
Tesla said that any customer who was not happy with their car could return it for a full refund up to seven days after purchase.
It said customer satisfaction data showed that German customers have been largely satisfied with their vehicles, including the quality and condition of their cars on delivery.
Tesla is counting on Model 3 to help the company become profitable on a sustainable basis and transform it from a niche player to a heavyweight in the automotive industry. But Elon Musk has warned the company to "produce hell" as he tried to scale up production of Model 3.
Bloomberg News was the first to report the cancellation of the 85 vehicles.
($ 1 = 0.9016 euros)
(Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Jan Harvey and Jane Merriman)
