On January 24, the China Consumers Association (hereinafter referred to as the "China Consumer Association") released the "Top Ten Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Hotspots in 2021" report, in which "the roof rights protection incident exposed the service loopholes of car companies" became the first major topic of social influence in 2021. According to the China Consumer Association, the result is the joint people's network public opinion data center, based on big data and public opinion social influence calculation, of which the "roof rights protection incident" caused by all walks of life to reflect on the social impact index reached 100.9, the top position.
Event review
On April 19, 2021, at the 19th Shanghai International Auto Show Media Day, a woman wearing a white T-shirt with a "brake failure" stood on the roof of a Tesla exhibition car and shouted "Tesla brake failure", the scene was chaotic, and finally the woman was carried away from the scene. That night, Tesla issued a public apology, apologizing for failing to solve the owner's problem in time. Tesla wrote in the article that it respects and firmly obeys the decisions of relevant government departments, respects consumers, abides by laws and regulations, and resolutely and firmly cooperates with all investigations of relevant government departments. Tesla has set up a special handling team to do its best to meet the demands of car owners and strive to satisfy car owners.
With the development of the situation, the State Administration of Market Regulation, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the China Consumer Association and other relevant departments have spoken out about this incident one after another. At that time, the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection issued a comment tesla late-night apology: compared with the previous statements, Tesla finally has some sincere and humble appearance. The Chinese market welcomes companies to invest and develop, but all companies are treated equally: they must comply with Chinese laws and regulations, market rules, and respect the rights and interests of consumers. In addition, Xinhua News Agency, CCTV and other official media also made relevant comments. CCTV news officials said that Tesla finally apologized, but if it is not public pressure, how long will it take for the "uncompromising" Tesla to apologize? The truth remains to be investigated, but this is not the first time Tesla has been on the cusp of a rights defense incident. If "making things bigger" can solve the problem, then neither consumers nor manufacturers can be the winner. What Tesla really "leverages" is not the rights defenders, but the quality of its own car, and what neither side should compromise should also be the quality of the vehicle.
Tesla replied
Tesla has responded and is willing to cooperate fully, providing the original data of the vehicle half an hour before the incident to a third-party appraisal agency or a government-designated technology regulatory department or the consumer himself. However, in the view of the female owner of the rights protection, the data provided by Tesla is incomplete and lacks key projects, resulting in the accident identification cannot be carried out smoothly, and until now, there has been no breakthrough in the incident. Of course, in the past month, female car owners have also replied to data and identification issues, while Tesla has been silent in responding to the data questions of rights protection owners.
According to the China Consumer Association
The China Consumer Association believes that the phenomenon of auto show rights protection mainly reflects three problems: First, there are still pain points, difficulties and blockages in consumer rights protection in the automotive field, especially in the field of intelligent and connected vehicles; second, in the face of consumer rights protection, car companies should give consumers a reasonable explanation in a timely manner, respond to public opinion concerns, and improper responses and disposal will often further aggravate the contradiction between enterprises and consumers; third, the repeated occurrence of auto show rights protection incidents affects the public opinion image of the automotive industry, which is not conducive to the high-quality development of the auto industry. In this regard, on the one hand, car companies should strictly control safety to ensure the safety of vehicle use and consumer rights, and at the same time, they must do a good job in after-sales service, understand consumer rights protection demands, and give practical and effective solutions. On the other hand, relevant departments and consumer associations at all levels should further smooth the channels for consumer complaints and guide consumers to protect their rights and interests through reasonable and legal means and legal channels.
summary
The full outbreak of new energy vehicles is the biggest highlight of the automotive industry in 2021. However, behind the explosive growth, there are still many problems in the replenishment of new energy vehicles, the information security of intelligent electric vehicles, data compliance and the safety of auxiliary driving functions.
Judging from Tesla's performance during the year, it reflects this situation. The data shows that Tesla China's sales in China in 2021 320743, an increase of 133.3% year-on-year. Among them, the cumulative sales of Model 3 in the whole year were 150,890 units, an increase of 9.8% year-on-year; the cumulative sales of Model Y in the whole year were 169853 units, which was Tesla's largest sales model in China. In addition, Tesla's stock price rose sharply during the year, from $729 on January 4, 2021 to $1,056 on December 31, 2021, with a total market value of more than one trillion dollars for the first time, becoming another company with a market value of trillions of dollars after Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Google.
While sales are growing rapidly, the Tesla brand also reached a new high in recalls during the year. According to the announcement of the State Administration of Market Regulation, Tesla will recall a total of 543811 electric vehicles in China for 6 times in 2021, far exceeding the recall level in 2020. It is worth mentioning that on February 8, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation, together with the Central Cyberspace Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Transport, and the Fire and Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Emergency Management, jointly interviewed Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. on issues such as abnormal acceleration, battery fire, and vehicle remote upgrade (OTA) reported by consumers.
It is true that Tesla China has become an important market for Tesla in the world. In this context, Tesla must win back the trust of more consumers in China, which is not only the recognition of products, but also the image and social influence of a new energy vehicle head enterprise. In addition, the purpose of PUBLIC RELATIONS voice is to solve the crisis of trust between enterprises and users, rather than simply expressing their lofty posture. Whether it is for Tesla or other brands, enterprises and users are always one, and the way for enterprises to assume social responsibility is to provide excellent products and provide good services in order to better lead the development of the brand.