Tesla Fires Back at Top Gear Ahead of Libel / Malicious Falsehood Trial

Top Gear != journalism

I would hope that any regular viewer knows all road tests are dramatized; I can only think that manufacturers still lend press fleet vehicles to them in fear of the on-screen repercussions (think Bentley in the Albanian Mafia luxury car test). Not sure how far Tesla is going to get, hopefully they don't end up tarnishing their own image with this suit.

Top Gear ftw. If Tesla was expecting something that resembles a serious review of the car they were sorely mistaken.

Sorry I'm siding with Clarkson and company.

NOTE: I do have a moderate bias against Tesla for not putting out a product for years and still taking in investment dollars for years and years. (Kinda like Duke Nukem Forever kinda.)

Reading Tesla's blog and the comments, the Top Gear episode is misleading. It was scripted beforehand (it obviously was, a windmill doesn't magically appear on a test track) but... so?

Tesla should hire The Stig and do their own track test. Recreate the Top Gear scenario. That is a more powerful statement about the quality of their product.

i.e., If someone says, "Look it can't drive in a circle." Tesla should go drive in a circle.

All of which says the episode doesn't make the car look any worse than many other cars they test.

Maybe Edmunds should do a Tesla track test??

i still don't think electric cars work in the real world because they don't unless you have certain circumstances that make it work.

top gear represented the tesla as it was... it ran out of juice after 55 miles on the test track... and had a brake problem... and takes a long time to charge on a normal outlet... and it overheated. saying it doesn't work in the real world... well if you intend to track it, then no... but they did not televise a real world test, but real world tests would have led to the same conclusion.

i read one review where the reviewer tried to hypermile to get 200 miles out of it... one way trip home from where he picked it up... well, he ended up running out too soon... drove around looking for a high voltage outlet... failed... checked into a hotel and charged it overnight on a regular outlet... in the morning, it still wasn't charged up enough for his liking so he killed some time to let it charge more... it still wasn't enough for his liking but he had to go... he made it home, but the car read "0 miles left" for the final stretch of the trip and made him quite uneasy. needless to say, he wasn't sold on the idea... and neither am i.

"top gear always lies" is not an excuse for them to lie.

I don't think it was intentionally malicious. I think TG went out of their way to try and make the review more interesting and took it too far. I am siding with Tesla on this particular point. I hope the Beeb folks have to concede. But I'll still be happily catching TG whenever it's on. But I'm disappointed as there's no way in Hades the Model S will get any serious attention out of the program now. From all the info available so far, its looking like that EV will be a serious leap ahead for the segment.

Top Gear is frustrating because they ARE so inaccurate, but say so many inaccurate or ridiculous things with a straight face, and there are far too many people who take Top Gear's word at face value. But I don't think anyone's going to successfully make a case against them because it's an entertainment show.

Tesla doesn't have to worry about the American market....no one with a life watches top gear here.

Both cars broke down or failed to operate to spec...nobody denies that.

@clarkma - Top Gear, like Edmunds, is entertainment. Nothing more.

Tesla themselves calculated that on the Top Gear track, it would run out of power after 55 miles. Tesla themselves also insisted on repairing the fuse to the vacuum pump when it failed instead of letting Clarkson continue to drive it. (it was driveable, it just required a more effort to slow down) Tesla is not being mature about the proceedings. All they needed to do was hash it out in court instead of continuing to bash on Top Gear. The only reason Wilman wrote the blog post was because his show was being discredited by Tesla. I've seen the video in question multiple times, and I didn't get the vibe that Clarkson hated the car and wanted to make it look terrible. Like most new ideas, the Tesla has some teething problems, but that doesn't keep it from being a good car.

Tesla themselves calculated that on the Top Gear track, it would run out of power after 55 miles. Tesla themselves also insisted on repairing the fuse to the vacuum pump when it failed instead of letting Clarkson continue to drive it. (it was driveable, it just required a more effort to slow down) Tesla is not being mature about the proceedings. All they needed to do was hash it out in court instead of continuing to bash on Top Gear. The only reason Wilman wrote the blog post was because his show was being discredited by Tesla. I've seen the video in question multiple times, and I didn't get the vibe that Clarkson hated the car and wanted to make it look terrible. Like most new ideas, the Tesla has some teething problems, but that doesn't keep it from being a good car. Even still, I watch Top Gear because I like cars and what they do is entertaining. I wouldn't watch a Top Gear segment just because I'm interested in buying the car they tested, that's what Inside Line is for. ;)

I'm with Top Gear. Of course they don't make up the show as they shoot the first drive of a car. Tesla is probably just trying to remind people they still exist, since they have so much trouble actually producing cars.

Seriously, here is the highlight of the problems: brakes(doesn't work), overheating(warning, slowing the car down), ridiculously long charging time(compare to real world gas-powered supercar), and worse handling than platform donor. If I am JC, I will only forgive all of that flaws if it was a Ferrari or someone paid me to say otherwise. I am sorry, but no matter how good your cars get, Tesla, I will swear to discourage every I can think of to NOT buy it.

The funny thing about the lawsuit... a few hundred k in lawyer fees is getting Tesla press worldwide. they're mentioned in every car mag and mainstream media even though they have nothing new to sell. Pretty cheap advertising.

Its about time someone fired back at TG. It makes sense that it was Tesla, they need the publicity.

Entertainment or not, accuracy or attempted accuracy is better IMO. Its one thing to write opinions, or make a mistake, but just talking sh*& like TG is annoying.

+1 for Top Gear in the "dispute"

This is a cynical ploy on Tesla's part. Abusing the legal system (and to a lesser degree the news media) for some publicity..... though even on that front i think they've miscalculated and it'll be a net negative.

The TG review was actually pretty favorable to Tesla. Showed that the Roadster was really good off the line and that, despite its weight it could hold its own on the track.

The mileage is a non-issue... 1) Tesla don't have a leg to stand on if their own people calculated that, after using 80% of the charge, it only would have made it to 55miles altogether before running out of juice. 2) everyone knows that gas mileage during a track day is much lower than on the street so what's the big deal ?

On the motor overheat and brake fuse issues they again have no case. Did the motor overheat ? yes. Did the break system have a failure ? yes. (it wasn't a TOTAL failure, but it was still a failure)

Since the Roadster is clearly a neat car, I was moderately positive on Tesla in spite of how they treated their founder and in spite of the fact that Nissan has stolen their thunder with the Leaf when it comes to main stream electric cars.

This kind of whining though... it's very stick in the mud. (the fact that they don't actually have a case just makes it that much worse)

I don't see what Tesla hopes to accomplish. TG bash cars every week, it's their schtick. Do they think they can TG to test the car the way Tesla wants? Honestly, I had forgotten about this segment a week after it aired.

I can't wait for Top Gear's feigned, sarcastic filmed response to this. Think they'll drop a piano on one?

LOL, you can tell who has had their favourite car insulted on Top Gear and have no sense of humour.

I learned to drive a standard on a Austin (Morris) Marina and I don't get mad when they drop pianos on them even though I really liked the car at the time.

I still own a Sprite Musketeer like the one they played conkers with and I thought that was funny.

I'll bet you can find more misleading statements in any Tesla press release or advertising then Top Gear has done.

Tesla is just trying to get people to forget they are more famous for burning through investers cash then building cars.

Uhmm.. hate to break it to ya, Tesla, but that was a completely run-of-the mill Top Gear episode. Great highlights of the car's positives (acceleration, handling, looks) tempered by well-reasoned, and fairly tame by TG standards, concerns about the pitfalls of electric power (limited driving distance, lengthy recharge times, dirty sources of eletricity), and a couple remarks about reliability thrown in. Were the , but totally expected on this infotainment series. Frankly, there were no surprises and I don't see what all the fuss is about.

Tesla really should be careful. If the case is thrown out then Clarkson will be free to get even.

Imagine his comments when he finds out the much hyped, ultra modern Model S sedan turned out just to be a Rav4 with an electric motor.

http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2011/04/driven-autoobserver-drives-the-tesla-powered-rav4.html