Tesla owners in Canada, Finland, and some other cold-weather markets discovered soon that vehicles from the company could present serious paint problems. So far, they had only been noticed in cars made in Fremont. Giga Shanghai apparently did a better job with its paint shop. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and the first cases involving vehicles made in China are starting to pop up.
We know of at least two situations involving paint issues. One of them led the customer to sell his Model 3 after only 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers), but he asked us for more time before going public about it. The second one did not have to wait. His story involves a Tesla Model Y Long Range made in China and sold in Luxembourg.
Sacha F. took delivery of his electric crossover on September 30, 2021. He chose a Tesla because he loves the way they drive and also due to the Supercharging network, but his first contact with his car was already controversial. That was also the first time he heard Tesla’s most famous excuse for defects.
“The whole paint was dirty and full of scratches when we took delivery of the car. We mentioned that to them, and they said: ‘It’s within Tesla’s internal margins.’ Wow.”
Photo: Sacha Fuchs
Sacha was already aware of paint issues in Tesla vehicles and how to avoid them: with PPF (Paint Protection Film). Tesla applies it in some countries, so he tried to understand why his vehicle did not get it.
“I told them about PPF on these specific parts of the car being applied in countries such as Germany, Norway, and some others as well as mudflaps. They told me it wasn’t for all countries, so we kind of had to take the car either way. They didn’t say it was recommended to have this on the car either.”
After using his car for some months, Sacha is not happy about how his brand new car now looks.
“Now, four months later and with 9,000 km (5,592 mi) driven, the paint damage is quite obvious! I just reached out to the Tesla Service Center to clarify this situation and reminded them that this was a known issue by Tesla since they pre-applied PPF in other countries.”
Photo: Sacha Fuchs
The Luxembourgish customer is now trying to see how Tesla will handle his case. If it insists that his car is "within specs," he'll make use all options on the table.
“I plan to make my point and, if needed, take legal action against them. I will also report them to our Chamber of Commerce for professional malpractice.”
Affected customers in Canada have already sued Tesla for the defects, and their class action is waiting to be judged. What makes Sacha’s case remarkable is that his car is produced in a modern factory, one in which Tesla did not have to adapt anything like it had to do to turn NUMMI into its factory in California. There are no tents at Giga Shanghai that could explain the paint issues. Yet, here we are. Again.
Photo: Sacha Fuchs
As we said, there is at least one more Tesla made in China that also presents paint defects. We’ll tell this other owner story as soon as we get clearance from him. If you also have a Chinese Tesla with paint issues, let us tell other readers what happened to you. That may make the EV maker finally sort this out.
Remember that Tesla has two more factories that should start operation in 2022: Giga Grünheide, in Germany, and Giga Austin. There’s a significant risk that they will do exactly what Fremont and Giga Shanghai have presented so far in terms of paint quality.
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