Here is another episode of the Tesla-suing-Top-Gear story: the EV maker has lost an important battle in its court libel claim war against Top Gear, with Justice Tugendhat, at the high court in London, ruling that Top Gear viewers couldn’t have used the episode in which the Tesla Roadster runs out of juice several times at the show’s Dunsfold track to asses the vehicle’s real world performance.
He explained that the Top Gear team tested the car on the track, which imposed a radically different driving style than the one used on public roads, where the car will be driver (most of the time).
"In my judgment, the words complained of are wholly incapable of conveying any meaning at all to the effect that the claimant [Tesla] misled anyone. This is because there is a contrast between the style of driving and the nature of the track as compared with the conditions on a public road […] are so great that no reasonable person could understand that the performance on the [Top Gear] track is capable of a direct comparison with a public road," Tugendhat was quoted as saying by the Guardian.
"In my judgment, the words complained of are wholly incapable of conveying any meaning at all to the effect that the claimant [Tesla] misled anyone. This is because there is a contrast between the style of driving and the nature of the track as compared with the conditions on a public road […] are so great that no reasonable person could understand that the performance on the [Top Gear] track is capable of a direct comparison with a public road," Tugendhat was quoted as saying by the Guardian.