Tesla sues Top Gear for libel and malicious falsehood

Tesla Roadster 2.5, 01.07.2010

Let the sparks fly

When most automakers get a bad review, they shrug it off and look for the silver lining. However, Tesla is suing the BBC over Top Gear's 2008 review of the Roadster.

In a 13 page brief filed with Britain's High Court, the company contends that the review was full of false and libelous statements. To this end, Tesla says they provided two cars to the program and neither of them suffered any mechanical difficulties despite the "staged" breakdowns shown in the episode.

Additionally, Jeremy Clarkson said the Roadster only managed to travel 55 (89 km) miles on the track. Tesla contests this statement as libelous because the car can travel 211 miles (340 km) on a single charge. Furthermore, the company says this statement has "severely damaged" their reputation.

According to Tesla, the company "simply wants Top Gear to stop rebroadcasting this malicious episode and to correct the record."

In response, a Top Gear spokesman said the BBC would be "vigorously defending" the claims made against them. They also contest Tesla's belief that the Roadster can travel 211 miles (340 km) regardless of conditions and aggressive driving.

Source: Tesla and BBC via Jalopnik

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CDspeed

Jeremy does go out of his way to make cars he doesn't like, look stupid. And this would have more of a negative affect on smaller companies. I do think Top Gear should apologize publicly and pull the episode. But to set the record straight I think Top Gear should test the new Roadster Sport and let Richard conduct the test. And hopefully reach a fair conclusion.

March 30, 2011 3:30 pm

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GPVG30

Okay. This is something. My question is, Why is it that it took Tesla almost 3 years to sue the BBC for this? I saw that episode, and yes I also believed they were trashing the car a bit too hard. Im sure this will be interesting....

March 30, 2011 3:31 pm

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3 replies

Anthony_Hughes

Their american, its what they do when someone upsets them.

March 30, 2011 3:41 pm

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CDspeed

I've read that Tesla has been trying to work this out with Top Gear. But the people at Top Gear are trying their best to ignore Tesla. So Tesla has finally had enough and has decided to sue.

March 30, 2011 3:52 pm

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it took Tesla 3 years because they are SLOW and INEFFICIENT. :DDD

March 30, 2011 7:26 pm

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It's more unbelievable if it can do 340km around the TG track the way they are driving them. Tesla need to get real. Jeremy trashes more than 1/2 the car on the show.

March 30, 2011 3:44 pm

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prokopec

Well, in fact Jeremy?s right. Tesla can?t do 340km in one charge in all conditions. I?ve driven one two years ago and once again one year ago and the result is: You can do almost 500km if you driving it like a Captain Slow. But if you driving in a sporty way you make just 100km and need a charge.

March 30, 2011 3:50 pm

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wcfuser14369

I don't know whay anyone thinks Clarkson didn't like it. Igf you remember he raved about it, especially they way it handled and the performance. But the point remains that if you hammer it like he was it simply will not do 211 miles on a charge. But that's like you wouldn't get a 250 - 300 miles range out of a petrol engined car. They are being a little silly. The normal way to handle this is never lend them a car again and focus on the journalists who are nicer. Is anyone likely to rush out and buy a ?100K car on the basis of a Top Gear review anyway?

March 30, 2011 3:53 pm

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1 reply

sub39h

yes, probably. Top Gear is watched by millions of people worldwide. cars like the Aston Martin DB9 had it's sales buoyed by a positive Top Gear review. that said, for Tesla to take on Top Gear is foolish. whether they win or lose, Top Gear will RUIN their reputation. they need to pick their battles.

March 31, 2011 7:12 am

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klitemaster1000

Tesla needs to grow up. there is no way their ca can go 211 miles on a single charge on top gear track. I really wanna see Tesla trying to prove this on the track. their claim is just like GM's claim over Chevy Volt's 200 or something MPG that no car show or magazine was able to reach to under any condition, the best they got was around 70MPG. To Gear should apologizes if and only if Tesla can prove their claim on the track.

March 30, 2011 4:01 pm

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norther

i believe that bbc or TG need not to apolagize. tesla are naive if they believe that their car wil save the world. how many people can afford a 100 grand "lotus"? (and it only carries 2 people) and as far as ..we car addicts know...there is no full electric car that can travel hundreds of miles, revved at the max. as far as i see it, tesla, like any other corporation, is afraid of the truth. (and maybe their in a hurry to sell their cars, and will probably become very greedy... and so on and so forth). shame on u tesla

March 30, 2011 4:07 pm

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1 reply

CDspeed

No car petrol or electric can travel several hundred miles speeding around any track. I do think Tesla has that wrong but Top Gear also made the car look faulty, and that is what needs to be addressed.

March 30, 2011 4:21 pm

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BadMrSnake

Well, thats what Tesla gets for loaning their cars to a bunch of amatuers for their brit. car show!

March 30, 2011 4:25 pm

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Dr.Mabuse

This just smacks of desperation. They have pretty much tapped out the market for people interested in this type of vehicle, so any negative PR hurts. The fact that it happened three years ago only makes them look more stupid - why drudge up the past? They only hurt themselves (I forgot all about the review!) Besides, the facts speak for themselves: drive the car hard and you can never achieve anything close to the stated range. Add to the fact that the effective range deteriorates over time and you can only come to the conclusion that Clarkson's comments are pretty close to the mark. He likes to add hyperbole for style - but he makes his point.

March 30, 2011 5:33 pm

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eldard

Forget the BBC. Tesla should sue itself for such an ugly-grilled overpriced Volt.

March 30, 2011 6:20 pm

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arty89

Top Gear just sucks now. it used to be good back in the day.

March 30, 2011 6:28 pm

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2 replies

Yeah, I agree, TG is now really irrelevant to any new car buyers, all they ever test are Aston Martins, Ford, Jaguar, Ferrari, Lambo's, BMW, AUDI, MB...They don't test, compare or review any "normal" road cars like they used to in 2003/4-5 and 2006. Perhaps Car Makers wont give them the new cars to test?

March 30, 2011 10:32 pm

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N20_Purge

You guys from the Morris Marina Owners club? Anyway, I think Tesla are over-reacting. It's not meant to be taken seriously because Top Gear is an entertainment show. If people want reliable reviews, they should get a magazine like Auto Express or something.

March 31, 2011 11:40 am

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eddie

New technology has to start somewhere. I think most intelligent people can tell what is really true or false about a product!

March 30, 2011 7:52 pm

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MTC

You can't do 211miles under full throttle condition, making Tesla argument pointless

March 30, 2011 10:40 pm

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trekkerbin

I think that people should stand in each other's position and thinking from there. Tesla should have known the filming character of Top Gear, so they send 2 Tesla for performance approval. The fact is, there's some problem happening during the testing, and Top gear simply broadcast it out to the public. If there's any problem about this, I think that the best would be for Tesla to ship another 2 cars for TOP GEAR to test again, only this time, Tesla should send some engineers to supervise if there's any mis operation during Top Gear filming.....

March 30, 2011 10:45 pm

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robsled

The breakdowns are the only bad press I remember of that segment, so if they were indeed staged by TG then it sounds bad for TG. Anyone who drives cars hard knows all cars suffer in various ways so lower range would be expected... its not a race car.

March 30, 2011 11:12 pm

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Douglas6250

No this is a bit pathetic. If this car can do 340km even when driven hard and aggresively, the fuel crisis would be solved and everyone would be spending their money on this rather than 911s, SLs or whatever. TopGear may have made up the mechanical failures, but surely it's not a surprise they could only do 89km. Tesla should in fact be very proud of this as a battery powered car that's so quick could stay at it's prime for so long, despite carrying the heavy weight of the batteries and aggresive driving.

March 31, 2011 2:27 am

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Zonda Addict

why did it take them 2 years to notice?..... i dont think they made anything up!!!!! i hope this wont hurt Top Gear

March 31, 2011 3:10 am

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schizo

Way to stretch out publicity! All this for just the cost of the attorney's fee + court costs.

March 31, 2011 3:38 am

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Siawa

In Jeremy's own words: "If they worry about all these things, they will have a really boring show". I love Audi R8 shape but Jeremy thrashed it. Doesn't mean I started finding faults in it.

March 31, 2011 9:25 am

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prowler97

Will Tesla stop whining! If you use Tesla's logic, then Toyota should sue Top Gear for claiming the Prius does not get 42 mpg on the track, I believe it only got 20 mpg. If you drive any internal combustion engine car on the track the fuel economy is drastically worse, the same applies for electric. I have personally drove a Tesla for over 115 miles and when I drove agressively the range was reduced by half.

April 1, 2011 7:08 am

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