Tesla is a car company currently devoted to producing electric cars, with their Model S model (straight from the Department of Redundancy Department) receiving a good deal of publicity. Unfortunately for Tesla, though, the company has something in common with its namesake - getting royally screwed over.
Fortunately for them, those doing the screwing happened to be embarrassingly incompetent.
Slash Gear
Shocking, I know.
The article lists some of the underhand methods used by Broder (pictured here), ranging from insufficient charging to "driving 'in circles for over half a mile in a tiny, 100-space parking lot.'" In fact, it even appears that despite Broder's claims, his car never actually ran out of battery; the entire story seems to have been pulled straight from his rear exhaust port.
Considering that John Broder has made his disdain for electric vehicles quite public, it appears that his review was an attempt to legitimize his views. So much for objective reporting, eh?
As of right now, the New York Times has refused to comment on the publicity-pileup, and it has yet to retract Broder's review. Considering that Tesla might just have grounds for a libel suit here, expect them to shift gears soon enough.
So yeah. While I know we all have different opinions on clean energy and the like, let's not allow the conversation to get too charged. I think we can all agree that faking a review to validate your preconceived biases is bad - and maybe don't forget that the company-tracked car is, in fact, tracked. That could help.
Fortunately for them, those doing the screwing happened to be embarrassingly incompetent.
Tesla has torn into the New York Times review of its Model S electric car, using systems logs showing charge and recharge status, driving style, cabin settings and more to undermine claims the EV is unreliable. In a detailed run-down of the stats gathered by the Model S’ onboard computer – something Tesla says it always does “carefully” on media drives, after UK car show Top Gear made similar reliability claims about a previous model, in a case which ended up in the courtroom - Tesla CEO Elon Musk argues that NYT reviewer John Broder was prejudiced against electric cars from the start, and did as much as possible to portray the Model S as unfit for the road.
...Tesla now says it will not be making further reference to the test drive, as it believes the data run-down “speaks for itself.” Whether it will put Broder behind the wheel for a second attempt, as the NYT author says Musk originally offered, remains to be seen.
Shocking, I know.
The article lists some of the underhand methods used by Broder (pictured here), ranging from insufficient charging to "driving 'in circles for over half a mile in a tiny, 100-space parking lot.'" In fact, it even appears that despite Broder's claims, his car never actually ran out of battery; the entire story seems to have been pulled straight from his rear exhaust port.
Considering that John Broder has made his disdain for electric vehicles quite public, it appears that his review was an attempt to legitimize his views. So much for objective reporting, eh?
As of right now, the New York Times has refused to comment on the publicity-pileup, and it has yet to retract Broder's review. Considering that Tesla might just have grounds for a libel suit here, expect them to shift gears soon enough.
So yeah. While I know we all have different opinions on clean energy and the like, let's not allow the conversation to get too charged. I think we can all agree that faking a review to validate your preconceived biases is bad - and maybe don't forget that the company-tracked car is, in fact, tracked. That could help.