Tesla vs BBC

Tesla Motors has filed a lawsuit against the BBC and its automotive television program Top Gear for libel and malicious falsehood.

The Silicon Valley, California-based electric car maker stated in the claim that the BBC Top Gear review of its Tesla Roadster "contained lies and misinformation about the Roadster's performance, behavior and reliability."

"The program's lies are repeatedly and consistently re-broadcast to hundreds of millions of viewers on BBC channels and web sites, on other TV channels via syndication," Tesla VP Ricardo Reyes declared from California.

During the program episode in question, Tesla Roadsters were shown as suffering several alleged 'breakdowns' during track driving.

BBC host Jeremy Clarkson closed the episode by declaring that the Tesla Roadster doesn't work.

It may be proven in court that BBC's Top Gear misrepresented that the Tesla Roadster:

• ran out of charge and needed to be pushed into the hangar by several men;
• has a true range of only 55 miles per electric charge, instead of 211 miles;
• suffered an overheated motor and was immobilized as a result;
• had faulty brakes which made the car inoperable;
• was unacceptable for test driving due to these alleged 'failures'.

Tesla Motors claims that the 'breakdowns' were faked.

Tesla is demanding in the suit for the BBC and Top Gear to cease and desist from rebroadcasting the episode in question --- and to correct its review of the Tesla Roadster.

Tesla has experienced conflict with the BBC television show since a 2008 review of the famous California electric vehicle --- when the Roadster supposedly ran out of energy on the track.

Tesla suspects that Top Gear wanted to show that electric vehicles are useless and that BBC staged the TV show to prove it.

Tesla's Ricardo Reyes asserts that the show's script, written BEFORE the cars were tested, has host Jeremy Clarkson ending the segment by saying, "in the real world, it doesn't seem to work".

A Top Gear spokesman told the British Broadcasting Company's news department, "The BBC stands by the program and will be vigorously defending this claim".

For the record, my colleagues here in California who own Tesla Roadsters have never had any problems at all with their cars.

It will now be up to the courts to sort out the case of Tesla vs BBC.