Recently, Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. filed recall plans with the State Administration for Market Regulation in accordance with the requirements of the "Regulations on the Management of Defective Automotive Product Recalls" and the "Implementation Measures for the Regulations on the Management of Defective Automotive Product Recalls".
Starting from today, a total of 1.6836 million imported Model S, Model X, and domestically produced Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles with production dates between October 15, 2020 and July 17, 2024 will be recalled.
There was a large-scale recall in January this year
It is reported that for some vehicles within the scope of this recall, after the front trunk lid is unlocked, the front trunk latch assembly system may not be able to detect that the front trunk lid is in an unlocked state, and the vehicle may not be able to issue a "front trunk not locked" prompt. In extreme cases, this may cause the front trunk lid to be lifted while the vehicle is in motion, affecting the driver's vision and increasing the risk of collision, posing a safety hazard.
Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. will provide free software upgrades for vehicles within the recall scope through remote over the air (OTA) technology. The upgraded vehicles will be able to recognize the fault status of the front trunk latch and emit a text and beep prompt of "front trunk not locked".
At the same time, free repairs will be provided to vehicles with detected faults in the front trunk latch to eliminate safety hazards. For vehicles that cannot be upgraded through OTA technology, relevant users will be contacted through Tesla service centers to implement recalls.
This is not Tesla's first large-scale recall in China.
On January 5th of this year, Tesla also launched the largest recall in the history of the Chinese market, involving vehicles including some imported Model S, Model X, Model 3 and domestically produced Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles with production dates between August 26, 2014 and December 20, 2023, totaling over 1.61 million units. The reason for the recall is related to the possible misoperation of the driver during the process of enabling assisted driving of the vehicle.
Similarly, Tesla will use remote over the air (OTA) technology to provide free software upgrades for vehicles within the recall scope, to prevent the door latch from disengaging during collisions.
Regarding this recall method, Tesla officially stated in January that with technological innovation, OTA recalls no longer require consumers to go to the store to replace parts, but only require remote software upgrades, which is more convenient. I believe this innovative approach can help car companies better improve product safety, as the pursuit of safety is endless
For the industry, innovation is necessary to drive major changes, but innovation will face some unknown risks. Recall can precisely make up for the omissions in product design or technological innovation of enterprises, and is an effective means to solve the batch and safety problems that vehicles only show in the aftermarket. Dong Honglei, Director of the Automotive Department of the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation, previously stated that with the development of intelligent and networked automotive technology, OTA technology has been widely used and can also be used as a technical means of recall to improve recall efficiency.
Over 1.8 million vehicles have been recalled in the United States
Looking back at the recall of Tesla's "front trunk not locked" in China. A similar situation also occurred in the United States a week ago. On July 30th, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that Tesla will recall 1.85 million electric vehicles in the United States due to software being unable to detect unlocked engine hoods.
The agency believes that this software defect may cause the unlocked hood to suddenly open while driving and obstruct the driver's view, thereby increasing the risk of a collision. This recall involves Model 3, Model S, Model X produced between 2021 and 2024, as well as Model Y produced between 2020 and 2024.
It is reported that Tesla has released a remote car upgrade software update to address this issue, and affected car owners will receive a notification letter from Tesla before September 22, 2024.
In terms of recent business performance, on July 24th, Tesla released its second quarter financial report. Data shows that in the second quarter, Tesla produced over 410000 electric vehicles globally and delivered over 444000 electric vehicles, a month on month increase of 14.7%.
Tesla also announced the progress of its autonomous driving and other businesses during the earnings conference call. Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that he will apply for regulatory approval in Europe and China to implement fully autonomous driving (FSD) under supervision, and is expected to receive approval by the end of this year; The Tesla Robotaxi will be released on October 10th and may be put into use by the end of this year or at the latest next year; The second-generation humanoid robot Optimus is already handling battery tasks in factories, and it is expected that thousands of Optimus will perform tasks at Tesla factories by the end of next year, and then increase production in 2026 to begin deliveries to external customers.
On July 30th, Musk announced that Tesla has started promoting the 12.5.1 version of the FSD on a large scale.
From the perspective of capital market performance, since reaching a peak of $271 per share in mid trading on July 11th, Tesla's stock price has recently followed market fluctuations and declined.
On August 7th local time, Tesla rebounded slightly by about 0.88% to $200.640 per share. If initially estimated from a high point, the cumulative adjustment of Tesla's stock price since July 11th is about 25%.
In addition to the recent recall incident, there have also been reports of Tesla's involvement in government procurement. According to the website of "Fujian Provincial Government Procurement Online Supermarket", a Tesla Model Y "TSL6480BEVAR0" has been included in the "Procurement Online Supermarket" list. This is a rear wheel drive version (standard range version) Starry Sky Grey model. According to Tesla's official website, the official guide price of this model is 249900 yuan. On July 4th of this year, Tesla Model Y was listed in the Jiangsu Provincial Government Vehicle Procurement Catalog.