Tesla’s Beijing showroom. Like many Western companies, the EV maker misread aspects of the Chinese market and failed to realize that many wealthy denizens of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen prefer to be chauffeured around.
Photo credit: BLOOMBERG
March 29, 2015 – 12:34 pm ET
SHANGHAI (Bloomberg) — After rushing to get a Tesla Motors Inc. Model S, Shanghai resident Sunny Zhang is suffering from buyer’s remorse. Zhang ordered the car last April and received it in September.
Echoing complaints from other Chinese Tesla owners, he says he waited too long for the vehicle to arrive and that aftersales service has been spotty. He’s also so afraid of running out of electricity he rarely ventures far from his home, a condition commonly known as range anxiety.
“If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t have bought it,” said Zhang, who sits on the board of Tsingshan Steel and also owns a BMW X5 and Ferrari. “The infrastructure still isn’t suitable to own an electric car.”
