Tesla chief Elon Musk’s bet on China has paid off handsomely. The country accounted for a quarter of its total sales last year. But like all foreign companies in China, that success has fragile foundations.
Tesla is recalling more than 80,000 cars in China due to software and seatbelt issues, Chinese regulators said on Friday. That is the equivalent of just a month’s output from its Shanghai plant. It is unlikely to leave a noticeable dent in the around $4bn of quarterly sales it makes in the country.
But the timing is bad. It is facing criticism from local authorities and the media. That followed a recent fatal accident and a much bigger recall of 200,000 cars in December over safety issues.